Hang in There, Baby
by FalselyTrue
Summary: Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box of videos in the attic from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?
1. Introduction

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: Alright! Here I am, starting a new fic. This idea came to me as I was watching: What would happen if the videos were found, but Charlie couldn't remember Teddy? This is where it comes from. Also, the title is subject to change. This is all I have so far: I just wanted to know if anyone wanted me to continue.

**PLEASE DO NOT COPY THIS. I WOULD APPRICATE IT IF NO ONE PLAGARISED IT.**

**IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT.**

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My name's Charlotte, Charlotte Duncan. But you can call me Charlie. Everyone does, even though I don't really like it. But it's the way it is, so whatever. I'm Charlie and it's just stuck.

I'm fifteen, turning sixteen in two months, and my older brothers, PJ and Gabe never let me forget that I'm that much younger than them.

See, while my family is small—only five people—the age differences between all of us are pretty big. Mom and Dad are in their late fifties, PJ's sixteen years older than me, at thirty-one and Gabe's twenty-five.

We live in a small house in Concord, Massachusetts, me, Mom and Dad. Gabe lives with us, too, because he's a college student, and college students need places to live. That, and Mom refuses to let him live anywhere else. PJ barely was able to move out—and he still has to come over to check in every day at least twice—once in the morning, once in the evening.

Naturally, I'm closer to Gabe, even though I wish he was a girl. I'm the only girl, which is a huge pain because I can't ask my mom for help and I really, really can't ask Gabe or PJ for advice. That would be like asking a martian on how to operate a submarine. You just don't do it. And Dad's totally out of the question. At least Gabe has somewhat of a clue—he's kinda cool, for an adult. He's a college student and has an ear piercing and everything.

Well, he has it in when Mom and Dad aren't around. Mom doesn't like it. He's not that hardcore, really, but he's sweet. It's just like a silver stud. It's not like he's got the whole upper ear filled with piercings, but the way Mom goes on about it, it's like he does. And she always mentions someone named Teddy, and both of them shut up right after they realize I've heard Teddy. It's like I'm three years old again. So not cool. I love Gabe and he's my favorite brother (don't tell PJ, he'd so freak) and he's the awesome older brother everyone wishes they had but don't.

My only problem is that anytime I try to bring a guy home, he totally intimidates them and they never ask me out again. I mean, I see where they get that from the black leather jacket and earring and the tattoo on his arm, but seriously? It's a freaking teddy bear and a cross.

Why they think that's scary is beyond me. But I think it ties in with the mysterious Teddy.

Anywhoo, PJ's a total goofball, but what can you expect from someone named Patrick James? The word "Trick" is right in his name. He's a prankster and a goofball and I act like the older sibling around him.

He happens to be sixteen years older than me. And people still ask if he's my little brother. This is NOT fair at all. At least he's mature, sometimes.

PJ's old enough to have moved out—and he has—but she's stayed close to our family. He comes over for dinner three times a week, and we have movie night once a week. Sometimes, he drives me to school. After we moved, he got really serious with his girlfriend, Claudia, and they got married. They've got a little kid, Shane, and I babysit him all the time. They're both doctors at the hospital here in Concord—and it gets really confusing, since Mom works there when she's not in a funk, so the people at the hospital are Mrs. Katy Mattox (she's the secretary), Dr. Claudia Duncan, Dr. PJ Duncan, Nurse Amy Duncan, Nurse Samantha Benson, and Nurse James Alcantera. Half the staff are Duncans.

But both my brothers, Gabe and PJ are so overprotective of me it's not funny. I can't date guys, I can't go out with my friends without total itineraries of where I'm going and who I'm going with and how I'm getting there. It gets aggravating sometimes, but I kinda know that they love me and that's why they do it.

Doesn't it stop it from being annoying, though.

Mom's been sad and depressed all the time, since I was threeish. She goes to church a lot, and the doctors finally had to put her on medication. She'd gone kinda crazy and tried to jump off a skyscraper. She's practically put herself on house arrest—that may be why she makes PJ drive me to school and follow me around when I'm doing stuff with my friends. When she remembers to take her meds, she's totally cool, texting and making the world's BEST brownies and sandwiches, and being more like a cool older sister rather than a mom. She used to be an ER nurse before she locked herself up in our house.

Dad runs a pet shop. Apparently, he used to be an exterminator, back when we lived in Denver, Colorado, but we moved for some reason. No one really talks about it, and I quickly learned to not ask because everyone gets all sad and clams up. It's really weird.

Another weird thing is that we don't have any pictures of when PJ and Gabe were little. All the pictures start when we moved to Concord—Mom says they were lost in the move. It's still weird, thinking that we have no memories of when my older brothers were little. On the upside, there aren't any diaper pictures of me for my parents to embarrass me with—those were lost too, apparently.

We visited our old neighborhood in Denver once, when I was seven. When I talked to people and told them I was Charlie Duncan, the mysterious Teddy came up again. They all smiled sadly and nodded and said, "Good luck, Charlie, wasn't that what Teddy used to say?" A black girl (sorry, one of my best friends, Krista, beat it into me that she's black, not African American and she's proud of it so don't call her or ANYONE African American because she's a proud black. I hope I don't offend anyone with that) burst into tears and hugged me, going, "Charlie, Charlie, it's so good to see you! Oh, Charlie, Charlie!" until PJ pulled me. I don't know what scared me more, the girl randomly hugging me or the fact that PJ was _growling_ at the girl.

Seriously, my laid back, surfer dude brother was _growling_ at this girl. She backed off and we left town within minutes. It really sucked, so we're not going back. That, and Mom got really bad with her depression for a couple days after.

So anyway, I'm living here in Concord with my family, and today is March 5th. To most people, this wouldn't be a strange day—it would be totally normal, except maybe a birthday or something. Not in my house.

Today, Mom dresses in black and leaves the house, while Gabe and PJ take me out to an amusement park or something, which I always thought was a special treat and they always looked like they were forcing their smiles just a bit. Dad gets all mopey. The same stuff happens on October 21st—and I've never really thought anything of it. It's just one of my family's weird quirks.

This year, I'm hanging out with Krista, Nina and Tristan, instead of spending time with my family. Krista's black, as I previously mentioned, Nina's…well, no one knows what Nina is, she's adopted, and Tristan's French-British-American. His little sisters, Juliette and Gabrielle are both totally sweet, for being six and ten years old respectively.

Tristan's the only guy my brothers let around me, and that's only because he and Nina have been a couple for about three years now.

Krista's got a great personality and is a total fashionista. She can kick any guy's butt to boot and can outrun most people in high heels. But she, cannot, for the life of her, talk sense when Gabe is around. It's annoying, it frequently bugs me and gives me plenty to tease her about. She's also not the greatest at school, but she's got excellent people skills. I will give her that. One word for Krista: Tough.

Nina's the…weird one…of our group. She's small, quiet, and totally insane. If we didn't have her, we wouldn't be a group like we are now. About Nina herself…well, Nina's the youngest because she skipped fifth grade. We met her in sixth, and she and Tris have been dating since…oh, gosh, seventh grade, early on? Nearly four years now, I guess. She's a brunette with huge brown eyes, and she's only like five two. She hates being short, especially because her boyfriend is six one—eleven inches taller than her. She's stick thin and eats like a horse.

Literally. The girl has the best metabolism on the planet. I envy her. She's ADHD sometimes, and like Mom, if she doesn't take her meds, stuff gets a whole lot more interesting. One word for her: Energetic.

As for Tristan, he's the oldest (he's older than Krista by two days), and he's kinda a sweetie. He's got blonde hair and blue eyes—and while I know Nina thinks he's gorgeous (obviously! She's dating him!), I personally don't think he's anything special. He's just Tristan, the kid who ran whooping through the sprinklers in a princess dress, high heels, makeup and tiara with me when I was six and Krista was out of town. We hadn't met Nina yet at this point. It's kinda why I find it hard to flirt with the guy when we're assigned as Romeo and Juliet in drama. (For the record, Nina does know and she knows I very nearly barfed my guts out when Mr. Thompson told me I had to kiss him. She also knows that I yelled at Mr. Thompson for multiple hours until he finally realized it would very nearly be incest because we'd grown up kinda like siblings.)

I can't even think of him in an even moderately romantic way without wanting to barf. The guy is like my brother—he's kinda like PJ and Gabe in the overprotective department too. Anyone tries to flirt with me or Krista, and Tristan's already beating the guy up.

Like I said, way annoying.

One word for Tristan? That's actually a toughy. Hm. Loyal, I guess. Imagine a long, intellectual pause in that "Hm" filled with tension and much dramatic posing with maniac giggling from my friends who have no clue what I'm writing.

As for me…well, there's not much to say. I'm Charlie Duncan, five seven, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes, glasses and a retainer, legally blind and moderately popular but somewhat a dorky nerd. I listen to a lot of music from the 2000s, rather than more modern stuff—I don't really like the stuff they mass produce today. Everything sounds practically the same now. I'm big into pureNRG's stuff and I think Skillet rocks (literally!) but more mainstream stuff like Superchick and Kate Voegele. The TV shows from the early 2000's are cool too. Like I said, not so big into the more modern stuff, like "Taylor's Tourettes". I don't think they looked up "Tourettes" before they put it as a band name.

But whatever. I'm just Charlie Duncan.

This is my life. Let's just see where it takes us.


	2. Day of School and Mom's Text

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: Well! I didn't expect this to be so popular! Thanks to: **XcuriosityXkilledXtheXcatX, **_Writer In The Night, _RECH2O_, _**Mr. BC**_, TeamRoseAliceEdwardRenesmee, _Alexzfan_, **LexidaLou**, #1 fan!, _BlackShadowKat_, _**xxPR1NC35Sxx **and _la-la-la-45 _for their reviews and for the eighteen of you who subscribed.

You know what would be nice? If all of you who subscribed would review! I need feedback, and who better to get it from than the readers? Another thing: I'm looking for a BETA. Any volunteer, recommendations and/or suggestions?

**PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie, although my characterization is mine. As are my OCs (which you should be able to tell apart from the original characters).**

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"CHARLIE! LET'S GO!" PJ yelled up the stairs. "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LATE, GET DOWN HERE!" I skidded around my room, jamming on my converse, stuffing papers in my backpack and grabbing my trusty tablet and sliding it into the sheath-like case that I always kept slung around my shoulder.

My room is on the second story, pink and blue with silver stuff painted on the walls. Mom redoes my room about twice a year, so it's constantly changing. I actually want to keep it the way it is right now because…well, the girly side of me likes pink.

I race down the stairs, my backpack thudding on my back and making me feel like a total idiot.

"I'm here, I'm here, don't get your panties in a wad!" I yelped as I tumbled out the door and claimed shotgun in the silver minivan that Gabe drove.

Five minutes, one red light and four cuss words from Gabe later and we were at school. The college campus is right across the street from the high school and the middle school is two blocks down, with the elementary right across from the middle. Concord is a really, really small town.

I got to school at 7:52, eight minutes before Zero Period officially started. I went to my locker and ditched my heavy backpack to grab the stuff I needed for today. We're on a block schedule, and today was a B-day, meaning I had Spanish, study hall, Pre-AP world history and English. I scooped up my Spanish binder, textbook and workbook, haphazardly scattering everything else through my messy locker, and then grabbed my Newspaper stuff. Since it's Monday, I have a newspaper staff meeting, so I have to go to that.

The meeting was pretty much the general stuff—assignments for the week, etcetera. Sometimes, I write the pieces, but usually, I do layout. This week, I'm assigned to work on a persuasive piece on global warming and why we should be more eco-friendly here at Dominion Trail High School. That, and I'm reviewing this new movie that came out, based on the Harry Potter books. It's a remake of the original ones, and in my opinion, even though the effects are flashier, they just didn't do it as well as the original.

Oh, and my Ask Annie column. I give advice to everyone. They don't normally give it to freshmen, but they were out of people since their last Ask Annie person graduated and no one else was trustworthy enough.

Something I think I forgot to mention: I'm a freshie, just like Tris, Krista and Nina. And another thing: Nina lives with Krista's family. They adopted her.

Well, if you didn't know, now you do. I left the Newspaper room and headed for my Spanish II class.

Since I've got time, I should tell you about my friends—what they look like and what their personalities are. Oh, and their/our problems.

First things first, Nina was adopted by Krista's family. But Krista's parents aren't her actual parents, they're her aunt and uncle because her mom died from cancer and her dad had walked out on them. Tris's parents are divorced, and he's got all the issues that go with that. As for me, there's the depressed mom and mysterious Teddy.

Nina is a brunette, with curly brown ringlets, bright, bright brown eyes, a constant smile and a ready laugh at any given moment. She loves acting weird, and she'll often contrast herself at least three times in a sentence. But that's okay, because we really do love her. She's our Drama Queen, and yes, the caps are necessary. She's been the lead in multiple school plays, musical, one acts and everything I've forgotten. She's amazing on stage, and her British accent is totally killer. If we need to convince anyone of anything, that's Nina. She's good at it, too. She's got an inane amount of energy that we can't bleed off. We've tried everything. The only thing that really works is coffee, and we're not risking anything with caffeine. Not around Nina.

Krista is a fashionista, as I believe I said before. If it can be created using fabric, she can make it. She's designed everything from class murals to ball gowns and even drawn out a seriously realistic spacesuit and recreated it. Don't ask. You'll regret it. She's done everything for design, and we love her for it. I honestly have never had to buy a dress for a school dance because Krista will have already designed and made one. On the downside, we're her lifesize models, and the three of us have worn enough Krista Originals to school because she needed to see how they wear and tear.

Never agree to be a Krista Model. You will wind up wearing car tires on your head for three weeks because she told Nina to put it on your head and Nina, having a diabolical plan, superglued it to your head. That really, really hurt. Want a crick in your neck? Sleep with your head in a car tire, eight inches off the ground. That is painful, but at least it wasn't as embarrassing as the toilet paper dress debacle. _Don't. Ask_.

Tristan is a brunette too, but his hair is a lot lighter than Nina's, nearly blonde compared to her but really dark compared to mine. He's dark in comparison to me but light in comparison to Nina and Krista. Tris's personality is seriously laidback but still intuitive. He can keep up with Nina, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. He's in Drama with Nina, but he's not on stage or anything like that. He's a techie, meaning he's the one who builds the sets and runs the lights and sound. He can also do ANYTHING with a computer and can build everything, but somehow, he's still failing math and woodshop.

Yeah, it confuses us, too. But about his family, the three of them, Tris, Gabi and Julie, are forever being bounced from their mom's house to their Dad's house. Tris has practically moved all his stuff into either my house or Nina and Krista's. His little sisters hang out with Krista and Nina's little sibs a lot, but that's about all we ever see of them. We've got like crammed schedules—an empty Saturday afternoon is way rare. Summers are nice, when we're actually all out of school and activities.

Nina is in Drama; Tris is in Drama; Krista designs costumes for Drama and is on the tennis team; I am hugely involved in book club, literary magazine, yearbook and the school newspaper. On top of that, Nina keeps recruiting me to help with scripts and directing, while I'm one of Krista's mannequins for costume design. Tristan and Nina get roped into Krista's designs as well.

Half the time, we can't stand each other. The other half the time, we're so close it's like we're telepathic. The annoying part is when you're in the "can't stand each other" stage and Nina and Tris are having total conversations with only their eyes.

It gets annoying when your best friends are dating. And when they're on a "break" it gets downright horrible because Nina or Tris will be bawling and the other will be fretting and it just gets so depressing.

But enough of that; here comes Nina.

Nina slid into the seat next to me, thunking her Spanish supplies onto the table and spinning a pencil in one hand.

"Hey-hey, Charlie-bear! So, did you understand the math homework? It so confused me! And it was like, hello, Mr. Geometry, Geometry is the study of shapes, not linear algebra, and it was like, so confusing! How are you this fine morning?" Normally, this wouldn't be so bad. It was the valspeak accent and the speed at which this was rambled off that made it stunning.

"I'm fine, Nina. Yeah, I understood it, and no, you're not copying it. Did you have coffee?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and working the cramps out of my writing hand. I'd been working on my English essay on Romeo and Juliet, and scribbling it out at hyperspeeds at nine AM is not recommended.

"Nope, no coffee. Me n' Tris made out for a while, though, and he drinks coffee. Hey, do you think that maybe you can get caffeine from kissing someone who drinks coffee?" Nina asked at her usual fast pace, slurring words together while scribbling out her Spanish objectives, homework and calentamiento, or warmup.

"TMI, Nina, TMI!" I yelped, covering my ears and dropping my stylus when she talked about kissing Tris. "You guys are like my siblings, please, don't mention that! It's like thinking about Gabe and Krista making out!" Both of us shuddered at that.

"Sorry. I won't do it again. Anyway, in Drama yesterday, we did this scene from a Midsummer Night's Dream, and it was so funny!" Nina continued in this vein for a good five minutes and was rambling on about the script she'd gotten for the end of the year talent showcase when Srta. Schriner comes in and yells to the class, "you can talk, but please talk en espanol!" and of course, the room falls eighty percent silent. But no, not Nina. She just switches to Spanish and keeps rambling.

What really annoys me is that she's practically fluent, and she wasn't even RAISED that way. But she says she's just got a gift with other languages and that she had to master the accent and tones of the language for her Spanish accent in a play a while back, and that spending hours listening to a Spanish speaker just made the language sink in.

Spanish went pretty normally, for once. No one burst in screaming halfway through class, no one was late, and Donny (the yearbook editor) didn't hunt me down to inform me that I did the layout on page forty-seven wrong.

By the time Spanish ended, I was ready for a break. A girl can only conjugate so many present progressive verbs in an hour and a half without going insane.

Next, all four of us had Study Hall in the auditorium—Tris and Krista had been in French III, and we met them there.

While we all gathered in the auditorium to "Study" no one actually did so. Study Hall was more a goof off period, unless you had something to do.

We claimed the corner, and I pulled out the Ask Annie letters I had to use. Technically, I wasn't supposed to do this in front of anyone but the newspaper staff, but I did so anyway. Tris, Nina and Krista knew when they weren't supposed to ask, and they backed off when I told them I was working on my movie review of the new Harry Potter movie.

Phillip Montross is H-O-T in the new version, but Daniel Radcliffe still made for the best Harry Potter, I think. And Kaylinn Canfield may be a very sweet girl, but she just couldn't pull off Hermione like Emma Watson.

Tris was helping Nina run through her script and Krista was sketching out something in her design book.

I glanced through the letters, and picked out one that looked somewhat interesting, and filled out a reply.

I put my earbuds into my ears and turned up some of tobyMac's music on shuffle. Boomin' came up, and I gave an earbud to Krista. She loved this song, even though she wasn't that big into hip hop or rap. I wasn't really, either, but tobyMac is the exception to pretty much everything. He's got amazing music, even if he IS a bit of oldies. Well, for us at least. Gabe says that oldies are like stuff from the 1950s. Psh, it's 2026. 2007 _is_ way old. But tobyMac keeps the lyrics very clean and accepting of everyone. I mean, how many artists do you know that have five kids, one of whom was two years old at the time, and cusses in their music? Not exactly a good example for your kids.

Besides, the lyrics themselves are very cool. "'Cause we're Boomin', out the stereo system, this goes out to anyone listening!" There's nothing like that anymore.

Krista flipped to a new page and started sketching something out. By the time we'd made it through four or five songs, she'd got a complete design ready.

She'd drawn a guy with a totally awesome outfit—a white jacket over a white t-shirt and black pants, with a blue and white scarf and a black hat. I recognized the drawing—it was a drawing of a picture of tobyMac we'd found on the internet. But she'd jazzed it up, adding a logo on his jacket and a white band on the hat. And a couple other things I couldn't rattle off the top of my head but definitely made the picture look better. TobyMac himself looked a bit different, his face more angular and eyes darker.

I laughed, and she laughed too. My phone buzzed softly, and I slid it open. It was from Mom.

_C, can you help find the decorating stuff in the attic this afternoon? I know your schedule is clear._

I laughed, and replied an affirmative.

I didn't realize how much it would change my life.

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**R&R?**


	3. Interlude 1

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: So in between every major chapter, I'll have an Interlude. In this case, it's one of Charlie's ask Annie letter and replies. Next time, it will probably be a series of texts between some of the characters.

Again, please review!

**ALSO: CHARACTER PICTURES ARE ON MY PROFILE!**

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_ Dear Annie,_

_ So there's this guy I really like. I'll call him Toby. Toby is really sweet and he's in my English class, and I really, really like him. He's a nerd, and I'm a popular, but we can work around that, I think._

_ But he's got a girlfriend. I'll call her Stacey. Toby and Stacey have been dating for a really long time (like three plus years) and I don't want to break up their relationship._

_ But I really love Toby, and I know he loves me. He's even kissed me a couple times, behind Stacey's back._

_ Annie, Stacey doesn't appreciate Toby in the way that I do since she's had him for so long. I don't want to break them up, but Toby loves me more than he loves her._

_ Toby says he loves her too, but he'd rather be with me. He's just dating her because it's what they're supposed to do—and he wants to sleep with her. _

_I know I'm helping him cheat on her, but Annie, I've been in love with Toby since I met him in kindergarten. Stacey's only known him since the beginning of middle school._

_ And one more thing—Stacey is my best friend. I'm torn between telling her the truth and having Toby for myself—because he said that if I tell her, he won't be with me._

_ And I feel so incredibly guilty._

_ Annie, I'm stuck and I need help. What should I do?_

_ Love, Helpless Hopeful _

Dear Helpless Hopeful,

Wow. Um. I'll be honest, my first reaction when I read this letter was _what the crap_?

But when I read it again, a couple more thoughts came into my head. One, wow, this girl has got it bad. Two, he loves two girls, two _best friends_? And three, this is not a good situation—for any of you.

Helpless, I'm not going to give you the answer you want. I'm not going to tell you that he's going to dump Stacey and be with you for good, because high school relationships don't ever work like that, Helpless.

And this relationship is really, really unhealthy for all three of you. It's not good for your best friend, it's not good for him, and it's especially not good for you.

I've never gotten into a relationship like this before, and I can safely say it's not good for anyone.

Helpless, if he cheats on your best friend, his longtime girlfriend, what's to stop him from cheating on you?

My advice, and it's probably not what you wanted to hear, is to break it off with him and come clean with your best friend.

Maybe it'll blow over, maybe it won't. But you can't hurt yourself like this, Helpless.

Wish I could've given you better advice, Helpless. But this is the best I can do.

Love, Annie.

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**R&R?**


	4. Lunch and the Attic

Title: Hang in There, Baby Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N:**Another chapter!**

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The rest of the day went fairly smoothly—History was hilarious, as always and English was beyond easy. B-lunch was a bit interesting today, since it was just Tris and I. Both Nina and Krista had D-lunch today, since they were both in PE. I sat with the paper/yearbook kids and Tris hung out with the techies. YES, we call them "techies." You'd be surprised how many people think it's strange.

Now that I think of it, lunch wasn't really all that interesting. If it's not an A-day, we don't normally eat lunch together.

I was scribbling through my ask Annie letters (Helpless Hopeful was one of the better ones—for example, I got one that went like this. "Sos annie i hav a problem my bf is cheating on meh & idk wut 2 do do u hav any advice i need major help, asap sosgurrlll". I literally had no idea what do do with that. Half of that, I needed a texter to translate.) and halfway through one from "Kitty Queen", who was worried about her cat coughing up hairballs (do I LOOK like a vet to you? No, don't answer that), the freshman PE class, led by Nina and Krista, burst through the doors and started doing jumping jacks.

But not ORDINARY jumping jacks, no, that's too simple for Krista and Nina. They did them on one of the cafeteria tables…the one where all the teachers sat.

They then performed a kickline on the table, ran through the Macarena once, three people did backflips and then they were back out the door less than two minutes after they'd entered, leaving the cafeteria in a prolonged, stunned silence.

Methinks Nina was protesting mile run day. She does this once a month, so me and Tris and about fifteen out of the four hundred fifteen people in our caf that were still eating.

What? I'd missed breakfast, I was hungry, and besides, it was NINA. She does this regularly.

What made it unusual was that none of the teachers got up and started having aneurisms like last just sighed, tossed out their food and returned to chatting.

We have the coolest teachers, ever. Nina nearly got expelled when she did that at the middle school. I was one of the kickline—and got detention for a month. Nina was suspended. But she came back within the week when the pretty much the whole student population refused to go to class until she was allowed back.

Needless to say, they unsuspended her.

After that, the rest of the day was pretty dull. World History was, as always, hilarious (our teacher cracks jokes and uses funny accents the whole block) and English was really interesting.

We're going through Shakespeare, starting with Romeo and Juliet and then hurling ourselves into a Midsummer Night's Dream—and finishing up with his sonnets. Before that, we did Of Mice and Men, The Odyssey and The Illiad, and Deathwatch, and a whole lot of short stories, grammar and punctuation worksheets on top of that.

We've got a pretty heavy courseload in English, but I love it.

That afternoon, I got home and Mom was already buzzing around, wearing her work jeans (they're so ripped, stained and generally destroyed that I'm amazed they still stay together) and a long sleeved purple top.

That's another thing about Mom. Even if it's a hundred degrees outside, she wears long sleeves. I don't know if it's because there's something there she doesn't want me to see or if she just likes hiding her arms. I would ask her, but she's done it so long that it doesn't even really register in my mind at all.

I kicked off my shoes and stuck them on the rack by the door and yelled, "I'm home!"

I got two responses. One from Gabe, who was apparently doing a term paper. "SHUT IT, CHARLIE! I'M WORKING ON A TERM PAPER!" See? Proof he's doing a term paper. I am such a d

"GABRIEL DUNCAN, THAT WAS INAPPROPRIATE. Hey, Charlie, hon, go put your stuff in your room, change into your work clothes and head up to the attic please, hon." I nodded and went through the kitchen to grab a quick snack before I dropped my stuff off in my room.

Krista texted me once and I laughed, sending back a reply at lightning speed. I put my backpack under my desk and put my tablet and cell on the desk while I pulled off my school clothes and yanked on a paint-splattered brown t-shirt and jeans that were as worn as Mom's.

I slid my phone back in my pocket and pulled on one of mom's old battered tennis shoes that she'd given me for work. Krista texted me and I had a mini conversation with her as I pulled the attic ladder down from the middle of the hallway. Once I was up in the attic, I flipped on the light and opened the windows. Mom was already up there and she tossed me a cleaning rag. I started to dust and checked in boxes to find broken things we could toss or not.

Krista and I texted a couple times through the whole thing, until I found a shoebox labeled, "Teddy's Videos for Charlie."

I instantly sat down, holding the box in my lap. I opened it, and inside, a row of CDs in jewel cases gleamed up at me. A letter was neatly folded on top of them, and I read it.

It was a good thing I was sitting down, otherwise I would've collapsed. My phone buzzed several times, and finally, I picked it up and texted my friends to meet me at my house after they finished with tennis and drama.

I might have found the mysterious Teddy.

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**R&R?**


	5. Interlude 2

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: Interlude number two, a series of texts! It'll probably be Thursday or Friday...

**CHARACTER PICTURES ARE ON MY PROFILE UNDER "HANG IN THERE, BABY PICTURE GALLERY!"**

Wow! 35 reviews, 1154 hits, 19 favs and 31 alerts! Keep it up, guys, keep it up!

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To: Charlie

From: Krista

Hey, char, good luck w/ the attic. ours is lyk a graveyard. Tell ur mom if she ever wants 2 clean it, shes welcome 2.

To: Krista

From: Charlie

Lol, I'll tell her. I think she's about to invade your house to remodel it anyway. We've all told her she can't touch our rooms anymore.

To: Charlie

From: Krista

OH GOD NO. I've seen what she's done to your house. We're good. Do Nina and Tris have drama 2day?

To: Krista

From: Charlie

It's not that bad. And why would I know? Do I look like their secretary? And Why?

To: Charlie

From: Krista

Yes. Don't you have a chart or something? B/c Tommy's asking if he can catch a ride and I need 2 tell him no.

To: Krista

From: Charlie

So, text Nina. She'd know better than me.

To: Charlie:

From: Krista

NO. Nina told me that if I text her 1 more time during drama she'd hurt me. Or get Tris 2 do it. And she's not answering anyway.

To: Nina

From: Charlie

Krista wants 2 know if Tommy can catch a ride with u guys after drama. No deets on the MO session 2morrow, m'kay?

To: Nina

From: Charlie

Nina?

To: Tris

From: Charlie

T, your GF isn't answering her texts. Can you ask if Tommy can get a ride w/ u guys after drama? NO DEETS ON THE MO, please.

To: Charlie

From: Tris

It's Nina. My phone got confiscated. Sure. Since I know she hates him, this is karmic payback. And fine.

To: Krista

From: Charlie

Nina says that yes, he can get a ride w/ u. She got her phone taken away. Ew, this attic is smelly.

To: Charlie

From: Krista

NOOOO. And lol, smelly attic. Sucks 4 u.

To: Charlie

From: Krista

Char? Did I say something?

To: Charlie

From: Krista

Charlie Duncan, are you mad?

To: Charlie

From: Krista

CHARLIE!

To: Krista, Tris

From: Charlie

The second practice is over I want to see your butts in my front yard. NO EXCUSES. This is serious.

To: Charlie

From: Tris

OK, but why?

To: Charlie

From: Krista.

Ooookay….I will see you then.

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**R&R! I'm thinking of getting a new title...any suggestions? Also: Do you like the interludes?**


	6. Finding aLetter and Discovering a Photo

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Last night, I WAS going to post this, but I had to leave before I could. I went to see How To Train Your Dragon in 3D for like the third time, with one of my besties, Jessie, and I wound up spending the night at her house.**

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The letter crinkled slightly as I kept reading. The box was heavy in my lap, and I kept staring at it.

Mom's pager beeped right after I'd pulled down the box because her pager beeped, saying someone needed her at the hospital, saying "Be careful, Charlie, some of those boxes are heavy. Good luck with the attic!"

I heard yells from the yard, and then footsteps running up the stairs. Krista was the first into the attic, quickly followed by Nina and then Tris. Krista took one look at my face and knelt next to me.

"Hey, Char. C'mon, talk to me." Nina was on the other side of me, wrapping an arm around me while Tris pulled the box from my hands.

We'd done this before, except Nina and I had switched places, when she'd gotten her adoption file on her birth parents. We'd done this for Tris, when his parents divorced. Krista and I hadn't been hit yet—it was due time for it to happen.

"Tris, get water." Krista snapped. "Charlotte Duncan, snap out of it. Charlie!" Her voice was sharp, and she smacked me lightly. "Charlotte, Tris is getting water. If you don't snap out of it, I will dump it on your head."

I moved slightly so she knew I was aware they were there, and tightened my grip on the letter.

Nina eased it out of my hand, oddly silent. Krista took the letter and unfolded it. Wordlessly, she read it, and then passed it to Tristan.

Tris folded the letter and handed it to Nina just as I let out a slow sigh. "What happened to her?" I pulled threads out of the knees of my jeans. "Why didn't they tell me about her? Why didn't I get the videos?"

Nina rubbed my arm, and I rested my head on her shoulder. "There's got to be a reason. We're here for you, Char."

I pushed away from Nina and Krista and started digging through boxes. Tris grabbed my wrist and hauled me back. For a guy who spends a lot of time buried in a sketchbook or hunched over a soundboard, he was surprisingly strong. I guess it's from building all the sets for Drama…I know from experience that those two-by-fours are really heavier than they look. "Whoa, Charlie. Where're you going?"

"I'm betting this isn't the only thing about Teddy up here. Look deep—they'd've buried her stuff under all this junk."

Nina was instantly pulling out boxes and checking the labels as I scrabbled through the one underneath the shoebox I'd found.

Tris was working his way through the other side of the attic and Krista was with me. Finally, a triumphant Nina crowed, "Jackpot!" She had pulled out a box labeled "Teddy Duncan."

Tris used his ever present pocketknife to slice through the tape. No, we don't know how he got permission to carry it in school. We don't even know if he HAS permission.

Inside the box were folded clothes in spacebags, dated, to be sure, but definitely cute. I saw Krista inch towards her sketchbook but then drop her hand, knowing I'd want to keep these neat and clean. Along with the clothes were flannel wrapped bundles.

"Thanks, guys." I whispered, and picked up one of the bundles. I carefully unwrapped it, but still, I heard the tinkle of broken glass.

Inside was a picture frame, smooth and wooden, but the glass was shattered. A picture of a family was the photo—and I half-recognized the people in it. Sitting on a couch, surrounded by teddy bears, was my family. Well, my family and 2 strangers. A younger Dad, sat on the edge, half-smiling at the camera. A younger, less depressed Mom stood behind the couch with her hand on his shoulder and was smiling directly at the camera. On the back of the couch, supported by Mom, was a toddler, dressed in pink and cuddling a teddy bear. I didn't know who it was, but it must have been me as a baby.

Also sitting on the back of the couch was a preteen boy, wearing bright yellow and grinning smugly, like he'd done something he shouldn't have. I recognized that grin—it was Gabe, in true form. But no leather jacket or piercing. He had his elbow on a teenage guy's shoulder, and the sorta-clueless look keyed me in that this was PJ as a teenager. He sat on the sofa's arm, apparently trying to smile and not fall into the sea of teddy bears.

It wasn't them that confused me—they were my family, and although I'd never seen them this young, I could recognize them—and to an extent, myself. What confused me was the sixth, and central, person in the photo

In front of the toddler, sitting cross-legged on the couch in between Dad and PJ, was a teenage girl, wearing a red t-shirt, blue jacket and jeans. Her hair was long, blonde and wavy, and she beamed at the camera like it was her last smile. She looked like she'd been told a hilarious joke and she didn't want to laugh, so she grinned instead, the smile going to her eyes.

I didn't know the girl, even though she looked somewhat familiar. A déjà-vu sense, if you will. I didn't remember her, but somehow, I _did_.

But from the comfortable, relaxed air she gave off, and the apparent ease of younger me, I assumed that this must be Teddy.

This girl must be my sister.

Tris confirmed it when he looked over my shoulder and went, "Whoa. Twins!" Krista rolled her eyes.

"I highly doubt tha—yup, they're twins. Well, take add two years, about fifteen pounds, put blonde streaks in and lighten the eyes, and yeah, twins!"

I ignored her jab at my weight (so what if I'm about ten pounds over average? I'm tall enough that a few extra pounds on me doesn't make a difference. I'm naturally curvy anyway, so why should it matter?) and gently moved some of the glass shards off the picture. One particularly sharp piece sliced into my finger and a drop of blood oozed out. I quickly moved it off the picture before it could ruin it—this was the only clue I had about my sister and the past I was sure I wasn't supposed to have.

"Charlie?" Nina's voice was soft. "You alright? You're crying."

I nodded. "I'm fine. And thank you." I made sure to make eye contact with all of them, even though my eyes were brimming with tears. "You didn't have to…but you did. Thank you."

Krista grinned. "It was no big deal, Char."

Nina nodded. "You helped me with the adoption stuff."

"And me with the divorce." Tris hugged me briefly, and I laughed.

"And you'll help me in the future. Think of it as a down payment." Krista was grinning, and I felt my lips turn up in a smile.

"Yeah. I will. I owe you one, all of you." Silence reigned for a bit. Nina was the one to break it.

"So…what're you going to do now?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Hang out with my friends, watch you force Tris to watch a chick-flick with us, do homework, not tell my parents?"

We three girls laughed as Tris went pale. "No chick flicks, please. We saw one on Friday, and there were things I can NEVER unsee!" He yelped, and we laughed even harder.

We debated the movie for a while before settling on How To Train Your Dragon, the first one. It was an old movie, but a classic, and God knew we needed something light hearted after the tears and discoveries of the afternoon.

While the movie played, I kept thinking. Should I tell my family I'd found out about Teddy, or should I keep it to myself?

No. I wouldn't tell them. I'd figure it out by myself—and rub it in their faces that they couldn't hide anything from me. I WOULD find out about Teddy, and I'd find everything.

I owed my big sister that much.

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**R&R!**


	7. Interlude 3

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Nothing to say here, so...**

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Dear Charlie,

It's your big sister, Teddy! As you probably well know, I'm making these video diaries to help you survive our…special family. Right now, I'm fourteen, and you were born three hours ago. In a month and a half I'll be fifteen, and yes, I'm excited. I'm an eighth grader (but you'll probably be in sixth when I give you these videos), and I go to Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Denver, Colorado. I think you'll go there, but if we move, then you'll know where I went.

But these videos are also a bit of a diary for me—and it's a diary I'm sharing with you. You probably don't even need this letter and are laughing your butt off at your older sister's stupidity. But whatever. We've got forever together—we're sisters! You have no idea how glad I am you're my sister—I couldn't handle another Gabe or PJ. Ugh. Everything else will be explained in the videos, so…I'll be seeing you soon, either way! Love, Teddy.

PS: You're just so cute! And I think Gabe's planning an attack because he really doesn't like be usurped as the youngest child. Good luck, Charlie, I'll be rooting for you.

PPS: If I attack or maul you while trying to do your hair or clothes, learn to live with it. It'll happen a lot, okay?

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R&R?**


	8. What Happened to Teddy?

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: I replaced a lot of the info in chapter 1, so unless you know that Claudia was PJ's wife and Shane his son, you'd be pretty lost here. That and they're both Dr. Duncan.**

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Dinner that night was quiet. No one talked much as we ate, and not even the normally talkative Shane and Claudia over for dinner with PJ.

PJ ate quickly, as did Mom, since they were both needed back at the hospital soon. Claudia had tonight off, just like every Monday, and she would stay over at our house for a while since PJ would have their car. I would sit with Shane and spoil him shamelessly, while Gabe would do homework and chuckle disapprovingly when I caved to Shane's wants. Claudia would do the same and Dad would be off at the pet shop because more people went shopping for pets in the evening than during the day.

What? It was a Monday night. I know how this went. Unfortunately, I'd lived with my family long enough to know this routine.

Tonight, as much as I loved my nephew, I didn't exactly want to play with him. I wanted to search the internet for any newspaper articles or blogs or even honor roll mentions of a Teddy Duncan.

I wanted to find out who she hung out with, what she liked to eat, what music she listened to, everything.

I had to meet my sister, even if I couldn't physically talk to her.

Well, maybe she wasn't dead. Maybe she'd run away to join the circus or somesuch crazy thing. Maybe she got pregnant at sixteen and ran off with the father and never contacted the family again. Or maybe she and Mom got into a fight and she left in a huff, never to return.

All kinds of things could be true. It didn't mean she was dead.

But I would start with the boxes in the attic. There would have to be something in there. Krista had found something that might have helped me, but as soon as we'd pulled it out, we'd had to put it back, since Mom had returned from the hospital and we'd had to scramble to return it to its place.

I didn't want them to know I knew about Teddy.

My eyes blurred for a second as I remembered the rest of our quick afternoon in the attic.

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Nina squealed at my comment. "Yes! How to Train Your Dragon! You actually have the original? Ohmigod, this is so amazing! I've seen the remake and the sequels and the TV show and I have all the stuffed animals in my room, but you've got an actual, real-live copy of the original? Ohmigod!" Nina's freakout distracted me from the picture in my hands, and I laughed for once, gently setting the picture down.

Tris and Nina clattered down the attic ladder, and I could hear them setting up movie in the downstairs living room.

I looked into the box as I started to shut it, and a blue jewelry box caught my eye.

I gently picked it up, and opened it. Inside was a delicate silver heart, with the word "Love" engraved in a curling script on one side and "Little Sister" on the other.

In the picture, Teddy had worn a heart necklace. I would bet my entire life's savings ($382.11) that hers was a matching necklace with "Big Sister" where this one read "Little Sister."

Krista looked over my shoulder.

In case you haven't noticed, she tends to do that a lot.

"You should keep it. Put it on the chain with your angel one." She said softly, then followed Nina and Tris downstairs.

I unclasped my gold angel necklace—I've worn it ever since I was little. It's a delicate little angel that's stronger than it looks holding a small blue jewel—and slid on the silver charm. Then I closed the box and slid it back into its place.

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Later, after Tris had left to go home, Nina, Krista and I were back in the attic and were digging through boxes.

"Hey, Charlie? I think I found something." Krista's soft voice drifted through the attic.

She waved a thick file that was labeled TEDDY DOCUMENTS. Just as she opened it to a birth certificate and first grade report card, the door downstairs opened and Mom yelled, "Guys, I'm home!"

Nina and I started throwing stuff into boxes, and Krista slid the folder back into her own box.

Then, Nina's cell buzzed and they had to leave, since their mom was there.

I wiped my eyes, slid the box back into place and went down to dinner.

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Now, I was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling through my geometry homework (it's the only subject I really struggle with, other than geology) while Claudia tried to explain, for the ninth time, the concept of calculating tangents.

"No, no, Charlie, you use the Pythagorean theorem. See? a squared plus b squared equals c squared. Just plug and chug. It would be 24 squared plus x squared equals 26 squared. So you multiply 24 by 24 and 26 by 26, then subtract 576 from 676. You'll get a hundred, take the square root, and x equals 10." She explained, sketching out the diagram and neatly completing the calculations.

"But then how do the tangents fit into it?"

"No, it's not the…you know what? Let's just wait for PJ to explain it." Claudia gave up. She slouched in her chair. "So, any news on the boyfriend front?"

Sometimes, Claudia was like a big sister—a lot like Teddy would've been.

"No!"

"You've got a crush on someone, doncha? C'mon, spill!" Claudia straightened and leaned forward. "If you don't, I'll recount the mushiest moments between me and PJ."

"EW, nononono! Ew, Claudia!" I covered my ears.

"I won't if you tell me!"

"Fine! His name is Zach, and he's really quite cute. But I don't really know him well, so it wouldn't go anywhere." I kept trying on my math homework, attempting one of the complicated calculations that Claudia made seem so easy. Somehow, I mangled the numbers and Claudia took my pencil away, even as I continued talking. "But then he flirts with me and teases me and I really like him but I don't know if he likes me and gah! It's just so confusing! Plus, PJ and Gabe wouldn't even let me anywhere near him."

Claudia laughed. "Ah, fifteen. I remember being that age. It was horrible. The guys were jerks and they kept sending mixed signals, the girls were getting snotty and everything was a mess. But hey, I've been there, I got through it and I had major social impairments. If I could get through it, you'll fly right by. But anyway, if it goes anywhere, and you need advice, just come to me." I looked down at my paper and tried not to cry. If Teddy were here, I'd be asking Teddy for advice, not Claudia.

"Yeah. Thanks, Claudia."

"No prob, hon. Now, let's try problem number eight and we'll go one step at a time. Do you see the triangle?"

"Yeah…"

"So what you do is you take this measurement and…"

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Late that night, after I'd finished my homework, I was up in my room, searching Teddy Duncan. I hadn't had an opportunity to go up to the attic and get the folder yet, so I'd resorted to my old standby for information—Google.

I'd tried "Teddy Duncan" then "Teddy Duncan Denver" and "Duncan, Teddy Gabe PJ". None pulled up anything interesting, and I groaned in frustration.

This would be so much easier if I could go up to the attic and just get the file folder.

Unfortunately, the attic trapdoor was just outside Mom and Dad's door, and since both were light sleepers, they would want to know why.

That wouldn't work.

Since I had nothing better to do (well, sleeping should've been pretty high on that list, since it was almost midnight), I started googling "Teddy Duncan" with causes of death.

Eventually, at about 1 AM, I got an article about Teddy Duncan.

As I read it, I started to cry—again. If I kept this up, I wouldn't have any tears left for a very, very long time.

I now knew what had happened to Teddy. But what would I do with this information?

I printed off the article, turned off my laptop and slid into bed, switching on my alarm clock at the same time. I flicked off the light and went to sleep.

What else could I do at one in the morning? Besides, I had yearbook tomorrow. Maybe I could see if anyone knew anything about "Roxy" or "Pete" or even "Ivy". If I was lucky, maybe they'd even know about "Teddy".

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**R&R?**


	9. Interlude 4

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: What actually happened to Teddy. You'll like this, I think. Anyway, thank you to the 60 who've reviewed, the 3,292 who've read, the 31 who've favorited and the 50 with this on alert.**

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**High School Arsonists Caught**

Local high school students Peter "Pete" White and Roxanne "Roxy" Baker were involved in the arsonry case that destroyed most of John F. Kennedy Public High School and killed a JFK senior last Friday. Damages exceed 5 million dollars.

White, 18, and Baker, 17, according to insider sources, plotted to start a fire in the science labs as an end of year prank. However, Baker was under the impression it would be a small, harmless fire, while White planned to burn everything to the ground.

When the time came to light the fire, Baker backed out, saying that she didn't want to destroy the school, while White insisted on lighting it. Reluctantly, Baker agreed.

Inside the building, were twenty-one people—the fifteen debate team members, three parental chaperones, two janitors and the debate team sponsor—and they were there when the explosion rocked the entire building.

"We were just there, Teddy [Duncan] and her partner, Ivy [Wentz], at the podiums, debating nuclear war when an explosion threw us all to the ground. Then everything started filling with smoke and we heard sirens, and I guess we all just panicked," said Lauren Nott, the debate team co-captain. "Everyone scrammed, but Teddy was just stuck under this piece of debris, and we were trying to get her out, telling her to move. None of us realized how badly she was hurt."

Teddy, a JFK senior, was finally removed from the building, where she collapsed, unconscious, from smoke inhalation.

As Lauren and her fellow co-captain, Javier Michaels, struggled to move Teddy, Ivy and three other members of their team, two other members helped, while the other ten vanished.

"One minute they were there, and the next they were gone," Javier spoke up during Lauren's interview. "I don't know why they didn't help us move them. By the time we got to the front of the school where the ambulances were, they were already pulling out. We had to wait ten minutes for another ambulance, and by then…well, it was too late."

Teddy, Ivy and Ms. Valkenburg, the debate team sponsor, were hospitalized in critical condition. Teddy died within hours as a result of smoke inhalation and third-degree burns. Ivy wasn't expected to pull through, but she and Ms. Valkenburg managed to survive.

Baker and White fled the scene soon after the explosion, not realizing there were people in the building. Apparently hearing people's screams, Baker turned around and hurried to help; White continued running.

Two police cars and a fire truck pulled up, along with an ambulance. They, too, did not realize that there were people in the building, and when Lauren stumbled out, supporting an unconscious Teddy, there was much shock.

Baker admitted to helping set the fire, and revealed their plans. She was arrested that night, but police could not find White at either his home or Baker's.

Early Saturday morning, White was arrested as he tried to enter his house. White denied all charges and is currently being held without bail in Princeton's juvenile detention center. Baker and White are being charged with arsonry, while White has intent to harm added to his charges. It is expected, that if convicted, White will face four to eight years in jail. Baker will probably face a lighter sentence for giving testimony and pleading guilty.

The trial is set for September 25, late this summer.

School will be held in various cafeterias around Denver for all JFK High students until a new high school can be built. Further information will be on the school's website and letters are going out to all parents.

A memorial service for Teddy Duncan will be held on Thursday, April 11. The funeral will be on Saturday, April 13.


	10. The Video Diaries

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: I'm actually stuck here. I have the next chapter planned out and everything, but I'm stuck for the interlude. Any ideas, anyone? What would YOU like to see? Thank you to the 80 reviewers, 3, 779 reads, 39 favorites and 55 alerts.

That's out, so...onward, ho!

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The next morning, I rolled out of bed after five and a half hours of sleep and packed up my school stuff. Today was Tuesday. That meant early morning yearbook stuff.

Instead of hitching a ride with Gabe (who was still sleeping, by the way), I grabbed my bike and pedaled to school. At eight-fifteen, I was in the yearbook room, picking through the photos and finishing up the layout for the art club's pages.

I was working with Mr. Sampson, the yearbook director. Donny, the senior editor, was someone completely different. Anyway, I was getting approval on a page design, which I'd pulled up on my computer screen.

"Hey, Mr. S, was there something twelve or so years ago with arsonists, like in high school?" I placed a nice picture of a lonely hallway, the lockers covered in paint handprints. The art club had done it, saying that the plain red lockers we had were too plain. The floor had paint drips everywhere, but it was still beautiful. The far wall, at the end of the hallway, had two doors set in it, but the art club had painted right over them, with a giant mural in five sections. Top right was seniors, bottom right, freshmen. Top left, juniors and bottom left was sophomores (isn't that such a weird word?). In the middle, they'd painted the school mascot, a grey wolf, and a saying.

"Forever united, forever we stand. Forever divided, forever we fall." I personally think they could've been more creative and done something like "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."

But anyway, Mr. Sampson looked thoughtful. "I think so. There was a national scandal, in Denver. Some girl died, but the culprits were caught. As far as I know, the girl got out on parole last year. The guy is still incarcerated, I think. But I might be wrong. Why the sudden interest?" He grabbed the mouse and selected my graphic headliner. "Does this look right to you?"

"Not really. What if we did it in blue, and maybe more artsy like. Block font isn't exactly the best for art club. How about that graffiti headliner we found last week?"

Mr. Sampson nodded. "I like the way you think, Duncan. Why don't you get on that, before school starts? We've got a good 45 minutes, don't waste them." I nodded and selected the headliner, deleting the text and starting to fix the headliner. Donny Evans dropped into the seat next to me and took a critical look over the page.

"Nice job, freshman." He said approvingly. "I like the layout. A bit unorthodox, but it came out real nice. Keep it up!" Within five seconds, he was gone. It was kind of annoying.

Don't get me wrong, Donny is awesome, but he doesn't have a grasp on either the concept of time or the concept of personal space. Seriously, the guy has burst into the girls bathroom enough times, screeching about some layout or other that people have started to call him gay.

Well, he is gay, but only yearbook and lit mag people know that. Most newspaper kids are out of the loop. Shh…don't tell anyone, his boyfriend might get mad...'cause see, AJ's not out of the closet yet and he's still in denial, even though everyone knows that he and Donny are…you know what, I'm getting off track, and on the off chance that anyone I actually know sees this, I'm going to just stop right there.

So I finished my art club layout and pulled up google once more. I found the article, and then googled "Roxy Baker arsonry."

I found blog after blog about Roxy Baker, about how she had been abused as a child and didn't really understand what she was doing wrong. A lot of it was hate comments, about how it was horrible that she killed that girl (and I admit, I was pretty upset because "that girl" happened to be the sister I'd never know because of her) and how she didn't deserve to live and all and they should've just executed her, and it did kind of make me feel upset—she didn't deserve to live. A life for a life—and hers should be the price.

The most recent was a news article about how she'd been released from prison and was now attending college in Trenton, New Jersey. She was apparently very sweet and honestly regretful of what she'd done. Pete White, however, was still in prison, sentenced for life. He'd been declared mentally unstable and apparently, he'd roped his best friend into starting a fire and there was a lot of confusion about how she was even friends with him.

After searching the internet for a while, I now knew several things.

I had an older sister, who is dead.

She'd been killed in a fire, a case of arsonry.

The culprits were Roxy Baker and Pete White.

Pete White was declared legally insane and is now heavily medicated.

Roxy Baker had been released from jail, so long as she reported to a police station once daily.

Roxy Baker was attending college in Trenton, New Jersey.

Trenton is about five hours from Concord.

Tris has his driver's license, AND a car.

I now have weekend plans. ROAD TRIP!

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Road trip is cancelled. Mom and Dad would be too suspicious.

Today was kind of normal, for once, which made it abnormal in the fact that it was normal because normality doesn't really exist in my abnormal life, so somehow, abnormality became normality, therefore making normality abnormal.

If I confused you, I'll be very proud of myself.

Not much of note happen, and I had homework, as per usual, but I still got the videos out of the attic.

I couldn't watch them until about ten at night, since school ended at 3:47 and lit mag went until five. Then I had to help with dinner (never, ever, EVER let Gabe anywhere near flour, sugar, glass bottles, sharp cooking implements, hot food and/or raw meat.) and do homework, including a massive, eight page paper for my history class. And three worksheets for science. And two textbook assignments for Geometry. Did I mention the memorization project for Spanish?

But anyway, I sprawled out on my bed in my jammies and popped the first CD into my laptop.

A menu came up, with girly handwriting across the top. _Good Luck, Charlie! _It read, complete with a heart over the I and a curlie-cue on the end of the "e" on my name.

There were seven boxes on the screen, labeled Day 1 through Day 7.

I clicked on the first one, and a teenage girl was looking weirdly into the camera. "Hey, is this thing working? Hello? Oh. The red light is blinking, so I think it's working." She leaned back and reclined in her swivel chair. She was wearing skinny jeans (SO 2009, btw. Krista would have a heart attack) and a graphic tee. She propped her feet up by the camera, and I saw the edge of a pair of battered converse.

"Soo…Um, hey, Charlie! Obviously, it's your older sister, Teddy, and this is my video diary for you. Every night, I'm going to recap the day, and we'll go from there. Hopefully, I'll have advice for you. As you probably know, I'm fourteen, and you're all of six hours old. You're really quite ugly right now, Charlie, especially since you're all red and wrinkly and…well, you'll probably be really glad that there are no pictures of you when you're older. PJ and Gabe are, of course, bummed, since they need blackmail on you.

"This is gonna help you survive our…special family, and hopefully this'll go for a while. Right now…well, Mom's really tired and Dad's kinda stressed, naturally so it's just me, PJ and Gabe." Teddy leaned close to the camera and whispered, "Gabe's planning your demise, and he's really not happy about not being the youngest anymore. I'd be careful, Charlie. Cross your fingers that he's crazy about you when you're older." Teddy leaned back and stretched lazily in her spinning chair.

"You know, that'll be my first piece of advice. Stay on Gabe's good side. He's wicked evil and can probably make you really, really miserable. Have you seen his diabolical planning table? The thing has like, blueprints and other assorted junk. He's too smart to be nine. He should be in like, sixth grade already, but he's still in third. Not exactly the best situation, though. If you piss him off…well, good luck, Charlie! I've yet to meet anyone come out unscathed from Gabe's wrath."

"TEDDY!" someone off camera yelled. The voice sounded kind of like Mom's, just a lot more tired and less upset. "GET DOWN HERE AND HELP ME WITH CHARLIE!" A baby's wail rose up, and Teddy rolled her eyes.

"I gotta go now, Charlie, but I'll see you in a couple minutes. I think, when you're seeing this, if I'm not there, if you could call the future me, that'd be great. I'll answer any questions you have about these diaries, but maybe you'll want to go through all of them and then call. Be warned—I intend to do this for the next couple of years, at least.

"So…I guess to close, love, Teddy!" As Teddy leaned forward to shut off the camera, a very pissed off voice yelled, "TEDDY! GET DOWN HERE!"

I laughed and clicked on the next one.

Once again, Teddy was sprawled out in her swivel chair, but she was wearing a completely different outfit, black leggings, a long purple tunic top and black cardigan style vest. Her hair was pulled back with a black headband, and had on a pair of black, plastic-framed glasses.

"Hey, Charlie. Yeah, yeah, my face isn't on. My contacts were bugging me so I had to wear these. So today was kind of interesting. You cried a lot, Gabe tried assassination attempt one, PJ used you as an excuse not to do homework. Have you heard Relient K's Must've Done Something Right? _We should get jerseys, 'cause we make a good team_," she sang, actually pretty well. "_But yours would look better than mine, 'cause you're outta my league. And I know that's it's so cliché_…" she trailed off. "Awesome song, by the way. Don't know why I mentioned it, but I did. I'm probably just dopey from lack of sleep. I don't really have anything to talk about, other than Mrs. Thiessian gave tons of homework, which thankfully, I finished…" she yawned.

"It's about eleven at night, and I've gotta get up kinda early tomorrow, even though it's totally a Saturday. Damn you, Dad, for making me go to that how to be a better big sister convention. Charlie, I love you, but here's my advice for the day. If Dad tries to send you to a convention, well…good luck, Charlie! You'll need it. And if you're watching this at night, you'd better go to bed. Mom flips if anyone is awake after curfew, which is in fifteen. I'd recommend turning out the light, Charlie. Well, that's about it, so…g'night, Charlie! Love, Teddy."

I giggled, and shut down the laptop. I tucked Teddy's shoebox under my bed, where Mom wouldn't find it. Gabe might, but he'd probably miss it entirely.

Then, I turned out the light and went to sleep early, for once.

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Reviewer's Question: What do YOU want as the next interlude? Do you think the story is keeping the characters in character? Do you think I should never write ever again? C'mon, people, help a girl out!

Sylver


	11. Interlude 5

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: I'm ba-aack! Oh, don't look so scared, this is a good thing! Thank you to NightWolfMoon for this idea of the blog! Okay, so as a thank you for getting so many reviews, the 105th reviewer will get a oneshot in any category they want (so long as I know what it is. This may take a few tries, or we can just go with the whole Good Luck Charlie category)...unfortunately, this can't be an anonymous reviewer, so...yeah.

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You are visiting Kaycee's Blog

Hits: 1000983

Date: July 17th, 2025

Hey, it's Kaycee! So, I assume everyone has heard of the whole Roxy Baker and Pete White situation. If not, go here, and read the article. If that's not enough information, check out either the Wikipedia article or the Denver newspaper archives. There's a whole ton of information there, following the whole trial and everything. If you're too lazy to do that, in short, in 2012, two then-high school students set a Denver high school on fire. Pete White was sentenced for life, and Roxy Baker is being let out on parole—today, in fact.

I think it's kind of crazy they're letting Baker out, especially since she helped to kill a girl. Well, apparently, it was an accident, but still! Pete White was declared legally insane, so there's no way they're letting him out, but Roxy Baker…they proved she was very much in her right mind.

The thing is, she killed a girl, and the family was left behind. Actually, Roxy dated the girl who died's older brother, PJ, I think it was. Yeah, that's right, I'm pretty sure, at least. Roxy dated PJ Duncan, I think it was, killed his little sister, Tina or Teddy or something like that, and left the family's parents, 14 year old brother and 3 year old sister (at the time) grieving.

I don't think she should've been let out. It's not fair to the family, especially as they were denied the right to press charges because the state was doing it. At the very least, she shouldn't have been let out for another decade or so, especially since she was involved in arsonry, third degree murder and a whole ton of other junk.

In a spoken confession from Baker, she stated, "I didn't know the fire would be as big as it was. I thought it would be small and harmless. Besides, Pete had told me that there was no one in the building. He'd never lied to me before, and I'd known him since birth. He was my best friend. And I would never hurt Teddy. She was like a sister to me, a slightly younger sister, especially as I was engaged to her older brother. I would never hurt the Duncans." Apparently, she was crying as she did this. Her story is believable, especially when you compare the facts.

Prior to the arsonry case, Baker was your stereotypical "good girl". She dated PJ for three years, never got a detention once in her high school career, constantly did community service and helped out an orphanage. She usually was seen with either PJ or Teddy Duncan, and it was true, according to sources close to both Baker and the Duncans, Teddy was like a sister. They would have graduated together, Baker as the salutatorian. She and Teddy, along with Ivy Wentz and Caroline Barlow, were well known as local musicians. Baker was on the honor roll and anytime a local disaster happened, Baker would be one of the first to help.

Another point to bring up was that Baker was abused. When she was nine, her father was arrested while Baker and her mother were placed under government protection. She honestly could have thought there was nothing wrong with what she was doing.

So maybe she just made a mistake that night, maybe she was just good at not getting caught previously, or maybe she honestly didn't know it was wrong.

I personally think it was a mix of the three. She made a mistake getting involved, but maybe she'd done this before and never gotten caught, and maybe she didn't realize it was wrong.

But that's just me. Tell me, what do you, my readers think?

Comments (1 to 25 of 89038)

MirrorMirrorOnMyWall: She's a horrible person. She should die!

RoadRipper: Roxy Baker? More like Roxy Murderer!

WhoAreYou: I think it was a mistake. She seems like a nice person.

Boomboom: She deserves to die. The ***** killed a living girl. She killed a person who could've changed the world—there's no reason for her to stay alive. Who cares if she's nice? Hitler was nice, and look at what he did! He did like community service and never drank and everything, but he still killed six million plus people!

BarlowGirlLover: She made a mistake, she repented, and we should all forgive her. Look at her record. She was able to help many, many people, shouldn't we help her?

.Love: yea but she killed a grl. There has 2 b punishment 4 dat.

Moonstar54321: the girl needs to die. If the guy is going to die, so is the girl. She's obviously insane and there's no reason to unleash an insane person on the world. There's already enough insanity running around.

Shadowleaf264: If you were in her shoes, wouldn't you want to be forgiven? And really, Mona, really? Aren't you crazy too?

xXEdwardxXxCullenxXx: It's murder. A life for a life—fair penalty.

PercabethQueen: I actually knew her. Roxy would never try to kill anyone, not on purpose. It was Pete who was the evil one. Roxy was innocent, and she deserves a new chance at life.

Moonstar54321: Yes, really, Shade. I'm insane, but I take medication. AND I've never killed anyone. SHE has. Therefore, it's totally different.

DesperateHousewife: A life for a life? Doesn't Pete White's life count as retaliation for hers?

inkheartforever18181: Roxy Baker AND Pete White ****** up a life.

xXEdwardxXxCullenxXx: Both lives for hers. An honest member of the school system versus a murdererous duo? I choose the honest member. Roxy Baker doesn't ******* deserve to live!

FallenAngel: The mother******* ***** deserves to rot in **** for the rest of ******* eternity! I hope she screams like a *****

Kaycee: Can we please keep the cussing to a minimum? There might be innocents who stumble on this blog. FallenAngel, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ban you.

Unlovedx345: why don't we just agree to disagree? We can all believe what we want to.

PJDuncan: I don't blame Roxy. I blame Pete, sure, but not Roxy. I dated her for two years—I think I'd know her pretty well. And Teddy…yeah, we all miss her, but Charlie's growing up without the pain of losing her. Unfortunately, she doesn't even know Teddy exists.

givelaughlearn: i don't belive ur pj. pj wud b mad roxy 4 killin his sis. ur not him.

Omgjb!: Maybe the family has moved on, givelaughlearn.

WeLive: Maybe it was just Teddy's time. The family obviously still misses her, but they're learned to move on. It's like that song, We Live. "But with life we never know when we're coming up to the end of the road. So what we do then, with tragedy around the bend. We live, we love, we forgive and never give up, 'cause the days we are given are gifts from above and today we remember to live and to love."

SuperChick: That's Superchic[k], right? From the 2006 album?

WeLive: That's the one. Taylor's Tourettes did a cover, though. Doesn't compare to the original.

PJDuncan: Seriously, guys, we've moved on. We still love her, but we've forgiven Roxy for what she's done.

Eckfactor5555: Why do I doubt that?

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Review, por favor! Remember, the 105th reader gets a oneshot!


	12. Oh My God

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: I live! So, here's the next chapter! It's not long, but a lot happens, and 14 really is a kicker of a chapter, so there's that. It'll be up ASAP, so...yeah.

Disclaimer: Do not own, never have owned, you can leave me alone now, right?

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I kind of sleepwalked through the rest of the day, absorbing the information shot at me but not really processing it. My family seemed exactly the same—they buzzed around as usual, never once mentioning Teddy. Everything was so normal…it was almost easy to forget that these were the people who had decided to let a three year old forget her sister.

Actually, nothing of note happened for the rest of the week. I watched one video a night, and got the following advice.

1. Never, ever let Gabe near a kitchen with possibly explosive materials.

2. If PJ starts to sing, duck and cover, preferably with earplugs.

3. Prejudice will get you nowhere.

4. I inherited my singing ability from Mom, not Dad, and don't let anyone tell me otherwise.

5. Do NOT, under any circumstances, let Ivy turn you into a model. You WILL end up looking like Gretel. Or Frankenstein. Or some horrific creature (like a Barbie doll. Literally).

And that was about the extent of my wild week. I mean, I got some advice, did my regular advice column, my stuff for yearbook (which was really pressing the deadline) and the newspaper articles I was assigned. Add to that the fact that I was now apparently signed up to help do tech for the musical that would be the drama department's final exam.

I'm not even part of the drama department.

But I get course credit anyway (still trying to figure out how they explain that to the colleges, by the way) so there's that.

So the most interesting thing that happened to me was when Nina and I dragged me and Krista out for a Girl's Night, purposely overlooking the fact that Tris is not, and has never been, a girl. But everyone seemed cool with it, especially since we went go-karting and watched the new Harry Potter movie again in the local movie theatre (my opinion the old one wiped the floor with the new one remains. The new one, while it may have been done with spectacular effects and the hottest stars is just…overdone. It's not even close to as good, because it's too good to be as good as the original. Does that make sense?).

No, wait, that wasn't the only exciting thing. Nina and I went shopping for Krista's birthday presents. Tris had actually thought ahead and gotten a present a month earlier.

It was the Tuesday following the Video Monday (as I will forever remember the day I found Teddy's videos) that something else happened.

Nina's birthday happened.

And oh, _God_, did all hell break loose.

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So here we were, all gathered around the Parker's kitchen table, Nina leaning on Tris's shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her waist, beaming with Krista to their left, grinning.

Tris's little sisters were sprawled out on the floor, giggling conspiratorially with the little boy Nina and Krista's parents were fostering.

Mrs. Parker (Krista and Nina's mom) was laughing with Mrs. Anderson (Tris's mom), but also shooting discreet glares across the room to Mr. Anderson.

"Come on, Nina, open mine first!" Krista practically sang, tossing a duct-tape wrapped package on the table. It skidded across the table and I caught it, passing it back to Krista.

Yeah, Krista's not so big on the wrapping paper. Last year, mine was penguins. With Santa hats. My birthday is in JUNE. Not exactly Christmastime. Tris got Barbie wrapping paper on his birthday present last October, and all our Christmas presents were wrapped in plastic shopping bags.

But anyway, Nina grinned and took the package from Krista, peeling the layers of duct-tape back until she found the present—an autographed copy of Wicked, her all time favorite musical.

We were lucky, when we stopped by my used bookstore, to find this copy on the shelf, in almost brand-new condition. Knowing that Nina would adore it, she'd grabbed it, since I'd already gotten Nina her present.

I'm still not sure how she wrapped it without getting the duct-tape stuck to the book.

Tris went next, and his was actually wrapped normally. It was a necklace, a little clapboard, like the director's marker thingy. You know, the classic black Hollywood marker? Well, it was done in miniature and silver, and it was absolutely the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. He helped her hook it around her neck, alongside the silver heart locket that was the only thing she had left from her mother.

I knew she'd never take either of them off.

I gave her my present then, and she unwrapped the sheer pink tissue paper. I'd found a collection of Britt Nicole CDs, and since Nina loves Britt Nicole, even though it's (again) oldies. It wasn't easy to track down, but you'd be amazed what one can find on e-bay.

The other various people there gave gifts, all of them usually somewhat drama-related (like an original edition of Star Wars—the first one, which was epic in and of itself, because everyone knows those are impossible to find), until it was just her mom left. We were all pretty confused by this, since the present her dad gave her was labeled, "From Mom and Dad."

It was only an envelope, addressed, "Nina Grace" in an unfamiliar blockish print.

Nina pulled out a single sheet of lined paper and read it silently, her brow furrowing and her eyes swimming with conflicting emotions.

Wordlessly, she passed the letter to me, and I skimmed it, my eyes widening like hers.

When I was done, I gave it back to her, and a tear dripped down her cheek.

She folded it and slid it back into the envelope, and then stood.

Well.

Turns out that Nina and I have a lot more in common than expected.

Her mother was my sister's murderer.

Nina left the room, which had turned eerily silent. The door slammed behind her.

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R&R?**


	13. Interlude 6

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Interlude six, I believe we are at! And shameless advertising, I posted a WoWP oneshot, called Max Russo's Box. Go check it out, if you will, that's the reviewer 105's reward. If you'd rather a different one, I will write one...**

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Dearest, most darling Nina Grace,

Oh, my darling, I know this is unexpected, but I'm your mother. Everything's so messed up it's not funny. If I cussed, I wouldn't have used messed up, believe me.

Maybe you should know about who I am. My name is Roxy Baker, and I'm

Look, Nina-my-darling, everything is so wrong, I don't know where to begin.

Wait, yes, I do. It was when I was three and met Teddy Duncan for the first time. Teddy Duncan is—was my best friend. She was there for me for everything and I was there for her. But it was because of her that the worst month of my life happened. No, scratch that, the worst year of my life.

I was raped. And my best friend died in a horrible fire, one that I set.

It's a lot to take, Nina-my-darling, but if I hadn't been, I wouldn't have had you. And now that you're two and playing with a young boy in the room down the hall, I realized something important.

I wouldn't change a thing, I wouldn't, Nina-my-darling.

But to be honest, I didn't want you, Nina. I was sixteen and still living with my mother and hadn't even graduated high school. I didn't even have a job or my own car, Nina-my-darling. I didn't want you because you represented the worst night of my life.

Teddy and Ivy both said I shouldn't tell you, that it would tear you to pieces if you knew what happened to your mama, but I believe that you should know, Nina-my-darling.

Teddy , Ivy and I went to a party, and I was drugged. Teddy was, too, but she managed to get clear, especially since PJ came and drove her and Roxy. I wasn't so lucky. PJ didn't realize I was there—and Teddy was too drunk to tell him that I was. I was dating him at the time—sixteen and I was sure I was in love. I didn't tell him I was going because he didn't like me going to the parties. He thought it was too dangerous, that something bad would happen.

He was right.

Nina-my-darling, I didn't know who your father was for three years—from the time I was pregnant with you until just last week. Your father was someone I trusted entirely, someone I'd known since birth. I couldn't believe it was him, but DNA shows the truth.

You're Nina Grace Baker, officially, but by blood, you are Nina Grace Parker-White. But don't worry, Nina-my-darling, you're safe from him. He's in jail for life, and he doesn't even know that you're his, I hope.

But anyways, it was two months before I found out I was pregnant with you, Nina-my-darling, and I wanted to get an abortion.

I couldn't, since we couldn't afford it, especially as my family didn't have much money to start with.

You ruined my life as I knew it, Miss Nina. You completely destroyed everything I'd ever worked for. I could no longer go to college, or get a career, because I'd need to take care of you. People wouldn't have anything to do with me because I was the poor white girl who'd gotten knocked up. I was a virgin before, but people had always thought of me as a slut, and they were convinced I'd gotten pregnant from sleeping with someone else's boyfriend.

The only things keeping me from committing suicide were PJ, Ivy, Peter and Teddy—and even then, I hated you. I hated you, but I loved you because I was your mother. I didn't even know that Peter was your father, but he seemed so kind and helpful and I didn't know, Nina-my-darling.

I almost aborted you, Nina-my-darling.

If I had, it would've been the biggest mistake of my life.

You mean so much to me right now, Nina-my-darling. You're the symbol of unaltered life—the good from the bad, the perfect from the broken. You healed me, Nina. You fixed what couldn't be fixed.

Nina-my-darling, I love you more than my life, and that's why I'm giving you up for adoption. You could stay with my family, my mother or my older brothers, but none of them would love you. If I give you up, someone will love you, and you'll be safe and happy. This letter is going to the adoption agency—they'll give it to your adoptive parents to give to you on your sixteenth birthday.

You see, my life was inevitabely destroyed when you were two years old. Teddy Duncan was killed when then. There was a fire at school, set by Peter White…and me. Teddy was crushed by a falling beam, and I very nearly lost you, Nina-my-darling, because you'd heard one of your godmamma's crying out and I raced in to save you.

Peter and I were sent to jail, but Peter had some buddies, and they made an attack on my life because I testified against him.

Nina, the life you would have with me would be that of a mother constantly in jail, you living with a family that didn't want you.

If I am alive when you turn sixteen, I'll come and visit. I swear, I'll be there, if only to say goodbye once more. I will be out of jail by then, and I promise, if you want to, you can come and live with me, Nina-my-darling.

You don't even have to call me Mom, because doubtless, your mom will be your adoptive mom. I don't mind, Nina-my-darling. If it would make you more comfortable, call me Aunt Roxy. I may be your mother, but that doesn't mean I'm your mom. I will stand aside and let your new mother be your mom.

I know you will hate me when you read this, Nina-my-darling.

I know you will resent me.

And I totally understand.

After all, you have a murderess who didn't even want you for a mother. I'd hate me too, if I were you.

Love, forever and always,

Roxy Baker

PS: Keep your chin up and just keep swimming, sweetheart. Everything will be okay.

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R&R?**


	14. Let's Break Down, Shall We?

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait...but here's a new chapter and interlude!**

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Everything had shattered around us, everything had simply self-destructed. I had a feeling nothing would ever be the same again.

To say that Nina was upset would be to say that Mt. Everest was a grain of sand. She was livid, she was torn into pieces, crying buckets and screaming like a banshee. There aren't words to describe, and I couldn't even begin to understand what she was going through.

While my sister may be dead, her mother gave her away with no fight. Her mother just gave up on her—and Nina was absolutely furious about it.

She'd vanished into her room, and I'd followed her to the door. She'd locked it, and I heard glass smashing, but no tears or screams just yet—those would come later.

"Nina?" I asked softly, knocking on the door. "Neen, are you going to let me in? Neen, you're going to break something important." She didn't reply.

"And you're going to need someone who understands." There was still no answer. "Fine, if you don't open this door right now, I'll go downstairs and tell everyone what was in the letter." There was a brief silence, then the door unlocked and Nina pulled me inside.

Then she sat on her bed and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at me. Her whole room was decorated with "movie props" and she even had a director's chair. While she may have seemed totally calm, any one of us three knew she was seething on the inside. It was the calm that made us worry. Nina yelled and was generally loud—so when she was quiet, we all got ready for her to blow.

"I figured you'd need a shoulder to cry on once you'd yelled your lungs out."

"Who said I was going to cry? Or even be upset?" I glanced at the pile of broken glass by her bookshelf, and she blushed.

"Hey, you've got every right to act like that. Let it out." Nina nodded, and took a deep breath, tears threatening to spill over. "Holding it in isn't healthy. Just talk."

"It's so horrible and…and I…I wish she hadn't told me in a letter or at all! A fucking letter, Charlie! Why are you even talking to me, Charlie, my mother's a murderess, she killed your sister! Why are you friends with me? My mother killed your sister! Didn't you hear me? MY MOTHER KILLED YOUR SISTER! Why aren't you mad, Charlie? Fight me, dammit!" I just looked at her calmly, and she broke. I knew full well how she'd react—she'd get quiet, get mean, get loud, then get better. That's the way it always went. She wanted someone to fight back, and she'd do everything to get someone to yell back.

"She didn't even want me!" Nina screamed, slamming her fist against the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks. Somehow, she managed to look absolutely beautiful while crying, not puffing or turning red or anything. Unfortunately, everything was breaking and that wasn't good.

"I'm a bastard, Charlie, the remnant of a rape! I ruined her life; she wanted to get rid of me but couldn't afford it! And then she gave me to a total stranger, Charlie, passed me off as if I was nothing to her! She was my _mother_, Charlie, my fucking _mother_! And she handed me off to someone else without even batting an eyelash! And she was a murderer, Charlie, she killed your sister, and oh, _God_, why did _she_have to be my _mother_?"

Nina screamed and ripped apart a pillow I'd passed to her, hurling the pieces at the wall.

"It was a lie, Charlie, a fucking lie! That folder my parents gave me, it was filled with crap! Why would they do this?" She let out an anguished wail and slammed her fist into the wall again.

The heart locket she always wore, the heart locket that was supposedly from her mother, winked up at me, sparkling in the light from the carpet next to Nina. She screamed when she saw it, and hurled it across the room, where it hit the wall with a soft clink and fell onto her bed.

"Get rid of it," she snarled. "Melt it, burn it, drop it in the ocean, I don't fucking care. Just get. Rid. Of. It." Nina screamed and sobbed and broke things, effectively destroying everything in her room. I picked up the locket and put it in my pocket, touching my own heart necklace, the one from my brothers. _Sister_.

Krista and Tris both knocked on the door several times, but it was only me who Nina would let into the room. She didn't want them involved, and knowing her, she didn't want me there either. But I was already involved in this—she could keep them out but she couldn't keep me out.

Tris was going to be sore about that, his girlfriend totally dissing him.

I gingerly sat on the bed and watched as Nina self-destructed. There wasn't anything I could do for her now. Later, when she calmed down, we would be all hugs and comfort and chick-flicks, but after knowing each other for twelve years, we all knew how everyone would react.

When faced with news of this magnitude, Krista would go deadly quiet and not talk to anyone, ghost-walking through life for days on end. She would refuse food and water, and would gradually waste away until someone slapped some sense into her. She wouldn't hurt herself physically, but mentally, she'd never quite recover. Sometimes, she would try to cut herself, but ultimately, she would break down and realize before the knife ever touched her skin.

Tristan would vanish off the face of the earth, and would eventually be found hiding in the old tree house we'd all grown up in. Nina would go talk to him, and everything would be right again.

Nina screamed and destroyed things before cutting herself like Krista. Her arms had neat, straight lines marching up them, from every hard time in her life, every foster home, every problem in her life. I knew by the end of the day, new ones would join the old. Nothing I did would stop them from appearing—it was pointless to try and stop her. On top of that, she would try and hurt everyone she could. I'm not quite sure she realizes what she's doing to herself.

As for me, I separate myself from everyone. I get upset and emotional, and then try to get to the bottom of it. It's the way I've always been. Like Nina, I would try to hurt the people around me—and I knew that neither of us could quite control it.

It's the way we've always been. The four of us, we're so close, it's not even a question of _if_ the four of us will be doing something. It's just a question of _what_ we'll be doing.

But for now, Nina and I shared a past, a secret, a poison that could—and would—destroy us both. She would watch me discover a forgotten past, and I would help heal what few wounds I could. And it would permanently separate us from the two people we loved most.

Nina screamed and hurled a glass snow-globe against the wall.

I rose and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a hug. She fought me the entire way, screaming and scratching and kicking. I just hugged her, humming lightly until she just broke down in sobs and bawled into my shoulder.

"Why are you being so nice to me? You should hate me, you should be mad at me…Charlie, why are you even caring about me?" Nina sniffled, and I hugged her tighter. I knew she needed the support.

"Because you're my best friend, Nina. Though why you want me in here is far and beyond me. Tris might be a better support network."

"He's cheating on me." Nina's voice was flat, as she shook her head no, her long curly ponytail swinging from side to side.

I pushed back to gape at her. This wasn't my Nina. Nina wouldn't know about something like that. She'd be too naïve to even think about that, and well, I also couldn't believe that Tris would do that to her. I couldn't believe that Tris would cheat in the first place. I mean, I'd always guessed, but I never really thought it really happened. I didn't want to think it would happen—I still pictured Tris as the kid I played in the sandbox with.

"What?" I asked softly. "You can't know for sure. I'm sure whatever happened, he has an explanation for it. I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding." I tried to rationalize, even though I already knew what the answer would be.

"It's not. He won't. I found…I found him and…and this girl, kissing a couple of times. But he didn't notice, and I just walked away…Charlie, my boyfriend is cheating on me, and then there's this whole mom thing and…oh, God. But you don't hate me?"

I shook my head no rapidly. "Neen, you're my best friend. I am not going to ditch you, not for anything."

"Thanks, Charlie." We hugged, yet again, and then I straightened back and studied her.

"Your makeup looks horrible." We both knew I wouldn't say you're welcome. We both knew it didn't have to be said. "We'll have to fix that before you go back downstairs."

Nina nodded curtly, and pulled out her giant silver makeup box. "So what's the cover story?"

"You received a letter from your dead mother, and it mentioned my family. You started crying and wanted to switch to glasses."

"Blue eye shadow or green?"

"Blue it pulls attention to your top and your eyes."

"Not a good idea, then. My eyes are probably still red from crying."

"Yeah, just a bit. Did you want to take your contacts out and put on your glasses?"

"Yeah, just a minute. Hey, can you do my liner?

"Black liner, or the white?"

"White makes the eyes look bigger, let's go for the black. Minimal attention your for eyes."

"That's probably a good idea. Let's fix your hair. What about a headband?"

"Um, sure."

Less than five minutes later, Nina looked normal and was halfway back to her usual bouncy self. We'd fixed her up so she looked like the Nina everyone knew—looked like the Nina she was supposed to be. Her bright blue top with the cute embroideries had been dusted off and straightened, her bead necklaces clicked merrily, and her glasses partially hid her eyes from view.

No one would think anything was strange. It was an unspoken agreement between the four of us—if two disappeared, it was up to the other two to make sure that no one thought anything of it.

When Nina and I got back downstairs, we had cake, and Tris hugged her close to his side, while Krista kept near me. It all still seemed surreal, and yeah, everything started to seem like we'd get through this mostly unscathed.

Thankfully, the rest of the day fizzled out quietly.

Thankfully, nothing else major happened.

But being Charlie Duncan, something would go mental before the week was out.

It always happens, believe me.

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R&R?**


	15. Interlude 7

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: *smiles and waves* Review, please!**

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YEARBOOK PROFILES—Recognizable faces!

The Fab Four: Four best friends as long as anyone can remember, Tristan Anderson, Charlotte Duncan, Kristina Parker and Nina Parker. They're all among the most recognizable faces at Stonebridge, an amazing feat for a group of sophomores! Never fear for anything when you're around these guys—they'll always be there to help out!

Tristan Anderson: A smart, cute, quiet nerd, Tris is the go-to guy for anything tech related. Tristan is well loved for designing the fabulous sets for our production of Wicked, and honestly, most of the school wonders where he gets his artistic talent and why he wastes it on Drama! A member of the Fab! Four, he's the only male member, but also one of the longest-standing and most loyal members. He'll always help someone with a problem when they're in need—so thank God for Tristan!

Charlie Duncan: The type of girl you want for your friend, Charlie will never give up on anyone she loves. She's quiet unless she's with her friends, and she's a member of the Fab! Four. Involved with Newspaper, Yearbook, Drama and Literary Magazine, it's a wonder Charlie has time to breathe, much less complete her schoolwork, which she does with honors! And she'll always be there to lend a hand if you need help with an essay—just ask three quarters of the grade!

Krista Parker: A bright, energetic fashion designer, Krista works hard to keep up with the designs and costumes necessary for the annual fashion show and the drama club productions. While she may hold the record for most guys dated, Krista isn't afraid to dump a guy if he insults her friends. A member of the Fab! Four, Krista has been a friend of Tris, Charlie and Nina since kindergarten. Need a makeover? Ask Krista! You'll look completely new in no time!

Nina Parker: The bubbly freshman everyone knows and loves, Nina is an explosive combination of ADHD and energy, adding up to a brilliant actress and a never-goes-down member of both Stonebridge and the Fab! Four. A formidable enemy but fabulous friend, Nina is one of the most recognizable faces at Stonebridge High. Need a guardian or tour guide? Just look around for the bouncing ball of energy. You've found Nina!

(_Um Donny? Explanation, please. We agreed that you weren't going to put us in the yearbook. Plus, what the hell happened to the On Staff=No Pics in Yearbook rule?)_


	16. Nina's Confession

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm alive! I missed you all dearly, and I'd like to warn all of you that the story does take a rather darkish turn here. I'd also like to warn you that the spelling, grammar and plot errors may be glaring as I only just finished this and had no time to edit. Or send it to my beta, so...yeah. I also have no idea what to do for the interlude, and I'd love to get some reader feedback on that. I'd love reader feedback on everything-how the characters are acting, if it's too far out of Good Luck Charlie boundaries, and if you think I should just stop writing and go back to living in my woman-cave.**

**And my final comment-I WANT TO APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE. I'VE BEEN A RUDE WWACB (if you can't figure out what that stands for, I'm ashamed of you) AND I PROMISE I WILL TRY TO CHANGE.**

It was my turn to do the dishes.

No one ever expects that it would be my turn to do the dishes. You, whomever is reading my personal-private-journal, didn't expect that, did you?

I know that Krista, at the very least, would have expected me to hack into the school records and check out every possible candidate that Tris might maybe-possibly be thinking of cheating on Nina with, then interviewing each and every one of them.

Contrary to popular belief, I did not hack into the school system last year to see what grades we got. (it was Tris who hacked in)

Contrary to popular belief, Nina did not blackmail me into it. (all four of decided to do it.)

Contrary to popular belief, we did not find out who the person who is cheating with Tris on Nina is. (although we _will_ find out)

Contrary to popular belief, we are not planning a vicious revenge on the girl who was helping Tris cheat on his longterm girlfriend. (we've already planned it out)

And finally, contrary to popular belief, handwashing dishes _is_ more relaxing than using a dishwasher. (and no, I do not only think that because our dishwasher broke three years ago and we never got around to replacing it.)

Gabe had done the dishes last night, Mom the night before and Dad on Thursday evening. In our chore rotation, it was my turn to do the dishes.

So I made the sink bubbly and started washing the leftover rice and vegetable crumbs off the plates while thinking over everything that had happened in the past month. Ten things really came to mind, and I made a list.

One, I'd found out I had an older sister.

Two, I'd found out that said older sister was dead.

Three, I'd found out that my family has been lying to me my whole life.

Four, I realized I was being a whiny WWACB, and that other people had bigger problems. Like starvation, dehydration, abusive relationships and being forced to listen to the horrible music that is Tina Pike's pseudo-pop. Or allergic reactions to milk or peanuts.

Five, Nina's mom was my older sister's murderess.

Six, Nina's boyfriend was cheating on her.

Seven, Nina's boyfriend's family better have a coffin ready because Nina's boyfriend was about to get murdered by a very pissed off Nina's friends and family.

Eight, Nina's mom was probably coming to visit at an unknown time…unless she was a) dead or b) in jail.

Nine, Nina's mom was very much alive, seeing as she'd been released from jail.

Ten, what more, exactly, did the universe have to throw at us?

Stuff didn't really change for a while—and surprisingly, nothing went wrong, nothing hurled a curveball at us and nothing _happened_.

Everything was normal.

I spent time in the Teddy videos, learning more and more about my sister and the family I now realized I barely even knew. Sometimes, Nina or Krista would watch with me—Tris wasn't the type to sit and watch a video about a girl's relationship with her friends and family.

But slowly, stuff began to wrap up. Yearbook was sent to the copy people—the final editions would be here the second to last week of school. Newspaper began collecting information on where seniors would be going to college and the annual joke biographies for the graduating seniors on staff (all four of them). Literary magazine published its final edition and disbanded for the year. Drama handed out scripts and roles for the drama final one-acts.

I helped write a script—Krista designed costumes—Nina acted—Tris built sets.

It was normal end-of-year stuff.

But Nina started acting weird—and so did Krista and Tris. I'm pretty sure that if you asked anyone else, they'd say I was acting weird too.

But Nina kept finding excuses out of stuff, and she almost seemed…scared to do anything Tris didn't immediately approve of.

It was a bit odd, but I figured it was a result of this whole mess with her mom and her family and my family and all that junk. It was totally normal, just like her weight loss. She was losing weight from being stressed—her appetite was tiny, and I rarely saw her eating anymore. Her bubbly personality diminished, somewhat, but she was still the bright Nina I'd known forever.

I was still worried about Tris cheating on her, but whenever I brought up the topic, Nina would tell me that she was just raving when she was upset.

I accepted it. She was just lashing out.

Krista and Tris spent a lot of time together designing sets, and Nina didn't seem to mind. In fact, she acted downright relieved when they started spending time together.

It just kept getting odder and odder, and I honestly had no clue what to do about any of it.

It was all subtle shifts of behavior and none of it could be pinned down.

So I just dismissed it.

I just stood by the sink for an hour, swishing soap bubbles and drying dishes.

After dishes, I went and did my homework. After that, I showered, brushed my teeth and went to bed before eleven.

Totally normal, right?

Well, not quite. Did I mention that Nina broke into my room at two AM?

Nina tapped on my window about three, stage makeup from her drama final still on, but fresh tear tracks were clearly visible, having washed away the thick coating of chemicals. The rain couldn't have helped much, but still.

I slid open the window, wondering how she'd gotten up there.

I then realized I had a very sturdy old oak tree in my backyard that would actually be very convenient for someone to climb. Why I hadn't noticed this before was far and beyond me. But then again, I typically only slept in my room and when you're sleeping, you don't tend to notice stuff often.

But seriously, you'd think I'd notice that after living in the same house for over a decade.

Odd what your mind comes up with at two in the morning.

But anyway, Nina swung into my room from an overhanging branch, and I thought she was going to fall when her feet missed the ledge, but she caught it and hauled herself up.

"Hi, Charlie. Can I spend the night?" she asked sweetly, as she sat on my bed.

I just gaped at her, then shrugged and started dragging the trundle bed out. Nina cracked a grin and helped me spread a blanket on it, after swiping a pillow off my bed.

Then the light went off, and both of us went to sleep.

But not for long.

"It was Krista, Charlie. Krista." Being three in the morning on a Monday when I'd been dozing in a pleasantly warm bed on a semi-rainy night in the middle of June, you can imagine how long it took me to process that statement.

"What?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes blearily. Then something clicked in my mind. "No way! Krista was the one who took your Spanish textbook?"

Nina gave me a weird look. "Char, my Spanish textbook never went missing. That was Tris's _French_ book, last year, and it was _you_ who took it. I found it under your bed, remember?" I blinked a couple times.

"You sure?"

"Nevermind. Just…go wake up." Nina waved airily and took one of my makeup wipes, cleaning smeared stage makeup off her face. "God…I'm gonna break out so bad…"

I grabbed a box off my bedside table and pulled out a king size hershey's chocolate bar. I snapped it in half and gave some of it to Nina, nibbling on the other half. I guess I was attempting to get my brain to wake up long enough to figure out what Nina was trying to tell me. Because something was telling me that a) this was really, freakishly weird, even by my standards, and b) what was up with the thunder and lightning and rain in the _middle of June_? God must have a love of theatric girly talk in the middle of the night with thunderstorms and chocolate, because _this could not have been normal_.

"Wait, what about Krista?" I asked, shaking the last vestiges of sleep from my system. "Wasn't she at rehearsal with you guys last night?"

Nina nodded. "She was there, Char. She just…she just wasn't acting right? I don't know how to say it without saying something wrong." She closed her eyes and grimaced, halfway.

"You remember how I told you Tris was cheating?" I nodded slowly. "And that I'd seen him and a girl kiss a couple times, but never yelled or incriminated him?" Another nod. "And then how Tris and Krista just seemed closer?" A third, confused nod. "God, Char, you're so dense sometimes. Tris, Krista? Krista's inane desire to date every guy in school?"

Pieces started to fall into place.

"He—she—you—_what_?" I choked out, and took in the rather calm looking Nina. "_No way_."

"Tris and Krista are going behind my back." She took a bite of the chocolate bar. "I have no idea how I missed it." A cliché lightning flash and thunder boom cued.

I just gaped at her. There was no way this was considered normal for any teenage girl, even Nina, to behave when they found out their long-term boyfriend was cheating on them with their sister. Shouldn't there at least be screaming, or the breaking of furniture, or something? She should be reacting like she did with her mom's letter, not being as calm as if someone had told her it was going to rain. Okay, fine, it was raining, but still. She shouldn't be this calm.

I finally asked her this, and Nina's reply made sense. Somewhat.

"I already knew, remember? I'd seen them kissing a couple times, and it never really bothered me." Nina set down her chocolate bar and looked me dead in the eye. "I don't think he ever loved me."

"So break up with him!" I snapped, gesturing to nothing in particular. "Break up with him and then Tris and Krista can date and you won't have to break into my room at two in the morning!"

Nina laughed dryly. "Break up with him? Please. I never could. No matter how many times I tried to convince myself. I love him too much. And I hate him for that. I wish he'd just break up with me once and for all. I wish he'd let me take art or do cheerleading, or anything but drama."

I gave her a weird look. "But…you never…" she didn't have to hear the rest of what I wanted to say to reply.

"No…he wouldn't let me." Nina's eyes shimmered with tears, and it hurt me to see my bubbly, energetic friend so…crushed.

"Wouldn't let you? Nina, you're your own person! It doesn't matter what he says—it only matters what you think!" I protested, and Nina shook her head.

"Of course it matters what he thinks, Char. Just like it matters what Teddy tells you. Of course it matters." Nina sighed and pushed the chocolate away. "He'd get so mad if he knew I was eating that."

"Nina. It doesn't matter what he thinks." I glared at her until she took another bite. "You're perfectly perfect, being Nina. You're _Nina Parker_, Neen. You're stronger than some guy dragging you down." I looked down, and whispered the last sentence. "You can break out of an abusive relationship."

Nina laughed crazily. "Can break out of an abusive relationship, that's a good one! You really should do a comedy show, Char, you'd be good at it." She wiped at her eyes, and met my eyes again. "No one ever expects that Nina Parker would be the one in an abusive relationship. No one expects that sweet Tristan Anderson would be an abuser. No one expects it!"

She sobered up and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Charlie, I need help. And so do you." I started to protest, but she held up a hand. "You're messed up with this whole Teddy thing. I'm messed up with this whole Tris and Krista thing." Nina paused, taking a deep breath. "So what would you say to running away with me to find my mom and get the answers we need?"

I looked up at the shadowed ceiling, studying the glow in the dark stickers I'd stuck there earlier this year. I thought about the broken friendship I knew would happen. I thought about Nina, being upset, and Krista, being…well, Krista. I listened to the rain, and the room light up with a bright lightning flash as I answered.

"I'd say hell yeah."

Cue cliché thunder boom.

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_**Reader feedback would be much appreciated.**_

_**PS: Congrats to coketree20, who caught the Seddie reference back in the first chapter. :D You win a prize, do you want a oneshot or just another fast chapter? How'd everyone miss that, by the way?**_


	17. Interlude 8

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it took me ages to get this out, but I wanted to get it good before kicking it out to everyone. Sorry for the slow updates-I have two more weeks of summer camp CITing, and so I have like no time to myself and what little I do have is spent catching up on missing sleep. But after those two weeks are over, I should have more time to work on this.**

**I'm gonna try to update every Monday, just like CL. And I'm giving you two interludes and one chapter as repayment for taking so long.**

**Happy reading!**

**Syl

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**THE PLAN** (by Charlie Duncan and _Nina Parker_)

**MONDAY (phase one)**  
~Operatives Parker and Duncan will record a mocking speech to be played on the intercom.  
~Operatives Parker and Duncan will find a way to play it on the intercom.  
~Operative Duncan will drill Operative Parker on English facts that will likely be on the exam.

**TUESDAY (phase two)**  
~Operative Parker will somehow come up with a **legal** car.  
_~Operative Duncan will not ask questions about how Operative Parker got ahold of a legal car…because it probably isn't.  
~Operative Duncan will create a packing list_  
~Operative Duncan has already created a packing list and therefore creating another packing list would be a rather idiotic move.  
~Operative Parker will somehow pass her English Final, even though it really isn't that hard.  
_~Operative Duncan will not make snarky comments when Operative Parker complains about the difficulty of the test._

**WEDNESDAY (phase three)**  
~Operative Parker will get her butt over to her house and pack up her clothes and personal effects so she can stop stealing Operative Duncan's personal possessions.  
_~Operative Duncan will pack her suitcase and stick it in the back of Operative Parker's mysteriously obtained car.  
_~Operative Parker will stop being so smug about getting the car.  
_~Operative Duncan will pray to whatever higher powers may be that she passes her science final._  
~Operative Duncan will glare at Operative Parker until Operative Parker apologizes.  
_~Operative Parker will apologize._

**THURSDAY (phase four)**  
~Operative Duncan will pray to all higher powers that she passes her science final.  
_~Operative Duncan will consider a small sacrifice._  
~Operative Duncan has decided that Operative Parker will be a good sacrifice.  
_~Operative Parker will defenestrate Operative Duncan if Operative Duncan even considers sacrificing her._  
~Operative Duncan will take her science final.  
~Operative Duncan will double and triple check everything in the car.  
_~Operative Parker will double and triple check audio-recording._  
~Operative Duncan will inevitably discover something they forgot.  
_~Operative Parker will laugh as Operative Duncan curses and freaks out over nothing.  
_~Operative Parker will stop laughing if Operative Parker does not want to be in intense pain.  
_~Operatives Parker and Duncan will go to bed early._

**FRIDAY (phase five)**  
~Operative Duncan will ace her English Final—and will have already taken her Journalism Final, therefore making her able to leave school three hours early.  
_~Operative Parker will ace her History Final—and will have already taken her Drama Final, therefore making her able to leave school three hours early.  
_~Operative Duncan will pick the lock to the principal's office.  
_~Operative Parker will distract Principal Fukishima long enough for Operative Duncan to set up the intercom message_.  
~Operative Duncan will set off the diversion.  
_~Operatives Duncan and Parker will drive like hell for Trenton, New Jersey._

**SATURDAY (phase six)**  
~Operatives Duncan and Parker will find Roxanne Baker's home.  
_~Operatives Duncan and Baker will demand answers from Roxanne Baker._

**SUNDAY (phase seven)**  
_~Operatives Duncan and Baker will return home._  
~Operatives Duncan and Baker will need to come up with a good excuse.  
_~Operatives Duncan and Baker will realize there is no good excuse._  
~Operatives Duncan and Baker will use a not-good-excuse anyway.

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**R&R?**


	18. Breakaway

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Sorta short chappie-basically because I was focusing on quality, not quantity. If you think it totally sucks, just tell me. I'll listen and try to fix it.**

FIC REC: Okay, so if you get the chance, go check out Four is Better Than Three by Waffles of Doom. It's beautifully written, totally in character (unlike my story) and totally hasn't got the credit it deserves. Go. Read. It.

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Getting ready to leave Concord was one of the most surreal things I've ever done. It was probably strange for Nina too, but she was leaving behind the things that were breaking her heart. I was leaving behind the pieces that kept my heart together.

Nina somehow got us a battered blue Volkswagen bug, and I tucked my duffel bag into the backseat, praying she hadn't stolen this thing.

I really wouldn't put it past her. She's done odder things before.

I sat in the passenger seat, closing my eyes and soaking in the feel of the car. It wasn't a new one—it's probably been around longer than I have.

But the car had personality, and I could feel a raw kind of hope in that blue Volkswagen bug.

Maybe we actually would make it.

.

Nina swung in my window, and I raised my right hand in greeting, continuing to scribble out answers on my review packet for science.

"Hey, Char. I put my bag in the car. You ready for phase three tomorrow?"

I swiveled in my chair and glared at her. "No, Neen, I will not be ready unless you leave me alone and let me study for my science final tomorrow, especially since if I don't pass and my parents decide I need to spend time in summer school."

She laughed and flopped onto her trundle bed. Mom and Dad had okayed her staying with us (she'd mentioned a big fight with Krista that Mr. and Mrs. Parker both confirmed) as long as we didn't stay up too late, we studied, and we behaved.

The third one was going to get smashed to pieces on Friday, but the other two weren't hard to follow.

After a bit of silence interrupted only by breathing, the scratching of my pen on paper and the squeak of the trundle bed as my temporary roommate bounced her foot, Nina spoke.

"So…we're leaving Friday. Two days. You ready?"

I snorted. "Ready? You're joking, right? We've got the car entirely packed, directions are printed out, lists of questions and things to do, the only thing we have to worry about is that the recording works right and that no one asks where we're going when we leave school, in which case the recording isn't very important and we can humiliate Tris and Krista later, and our excuse will be that we're going to get ice cream at Coldstone to celebrate finishing exams."

Nina laughed. "I agree, we're ready. I meant, are you mentally ready? Like, nervous, excited, nervous, anxious, nervous?"

Somehow, I managed to keep a straight face. "Oh, I'm not nervous. I'm terrified. An entire city of butterflies has moved into my stomach, and apparently, the city has a city-wide butterfly tap-dance contest on the walls of my stomach. But it's not because of the Plan, it's because of my freaking science exam. How 'bout you? You nervous?"

"Of course I'm nervous. I'm worrying about being able to drive five hours to New Jersey. And not wrapping the car around the tree." She was joking, but an undertone of seriousness tinged her words.

"You'll do fine, Neen. A whole lot better than me, since I don't even have my license yet."

Nina nodded, and the room faded back into a comfortable silence. The window stayed open, and a gentle breeze blew, the air smelling like rain and grass. It had rained earlier that afternoon—everyone thought it was really bizarre, the weather patterns lately, but it was just blamed on Global Climate Change and El Nino. I think that was it, if it wasn't La Nina. I could never remember which was in which hemisphere, and that was part of the reason why I was scared I wouldn't pass my science final.

The sun began to set, and Nina climbed out the window. (You know, I still haven't figured out why she hasn't used the freaking _door_ this week…or why my parents haven't said _anything_ about her not using the door. ) I sat on the sill as she scrambled down the fire escape ladder, and she spun, laughing, as the light began to fade.

Eventually, she flopped down on the grass and I climbed back into my room.

I seriously needed to get studying. I was NOT going to flunk Science, _again_.

.

Breaking into Principal Fukishima's office was the easy part.

Setting up the idiot-proof audiolooping system, however, was not.

Nina had distracted Principal Fukishima—or, rather, she'd convinced a couple kids from Drama Club that it would be both fun and a great acting exercise to stage a fight in the hallways, one that the school would talk about for years and would substantially raise their grades in Drama (I'm actually pretty sure blackmail was involved)—and was now on her way to my house to pick up the car we'd set up and were ready to head out.

I slid the bookshelf in front of the door (it slid surprisingly easily and quietly…does Principal Fukishima move his furniture regularly?) and blocked furthermore with a chair.

Then I started trying to set up the audiolooping thing, which totally hated me. I finally figured it out, though, after a dozen failed tries.

We'd recorded five minutes of silence, praying that it would be enough, so I switched on the intercom, and quietly backed away, using the second-story window and tree outside to make my exit.

Nina would've been better at this mission, but we needed her to direct the distracters, therefore I had to do this.

It took me about two minutes to get down the tree, and then I was hurrying towards the edge of campus. Maybe a minute later, I was sprinting, and a familiar blue bug pulled up beside me.

The timer on my watch beeped, and I swung into the car. "Go, gogogogogo!" I yelped, and Nina got the car going.

"Which way?" Nina asked, and I checked the paper sheaf of directions. "We need to get to I-495, so take the Turnpike, and then we'll have to merge onto the ramp."

Nina nodded, and we made our way out of Concord silently.

.

Back at school, Krista scribbled out answers on her scantron.

She'd just started her French final, and knew it wouldn't be easy, despite Tris's tutoring. She really hoped she'd pass, since she'd already had to retake French 3 last year.

The intercom beeped once, but no one spoke, and everyone dismissed it as a bug in the system, which, despite the school's high tech budget, remained, especially since the technical design class was the one who designed and maintained the new PA system.

She filled in another couple of blanks and got to the conjugating part—where she paused, tapping her pencil on the back of her hand.

Was the conjugation for "we swim" in the present perfect "nous avons nagé" or "nous eûmes nagé"?

She decided on the first and bubbled in Answer C.

Then a voice started to speak over the intercom—without the usual beep before it began. And the weird thing was, it wasn't a human voice speaking over the intercom. It was a moderately robotic voice you usually only heard in the old movies from the 2000's.

_What was going on? _Krista wondered.

"Hello Stonebridge High School! This is an anonymous school member hacking into your intercom—Sorry, Principal Fukishima! It has come to my attention that—" a large burst of feedback screeched through, and everyone in class flinched. "It has come to my attention that Tristan Anderson is a lying, cheating scumbag. He abuses his girlfriend—who, by the way, asked me to inform him that as of right now, he can officially consider himself dumped—and cheated on her with her own sister, Krista Parker."

Krista's jaw dropped. This wasn't true—Tris and Nina had broken up well over a month ago, and Tris had even said Nina approved of it.

People started whispering and pointing at her, and she slouched down in her seat.

_What was this?_

"As a suitable punishment, I have compiled a list of embarrassing facts about Tristan Anderson and Krista Parker, courtesy of Charlotte Duncan and Nina Parker."

The voice began rattling off facts, and Krista flinched at almost every single one.

There was something seriously screwy going on. Tris and Nina had broken up—everyone knew that—and everything had been alright. But then this…something clearly wasn't right here.

_What was this? _

Who would do this? And why would Charlie and Nina agree to help this mysterious person?

.

"I want my chips back!" Nina yelped, reaching out blindly with one hand. "And my Gatorade, if you please?"

I rolled my eyes and kept them out of her reach. "You do not need the energy, Miss Nina. You'll get all hyper, and I'm not dealing with that on a long road trip _where you're driving_."

Nina laughed, and turned up the radio just a bit. "Fine. No chips. But can I at least have the pretzels? We've got a hundred miles left on this road, and I'm hungry."

I have to say, I like this Nina better than the vauge ghost of Nina that had been drifting around for the past month. This Nina was stronger, better—and my best friend.

My cell hadn't rung yet, so maybe we were in the clear.

Maybe we'd pull this off.

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**R&R?**


	19. Interlude 9

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Last chapter of the day. Next one is up and running, so you'll probably get another update by (probably) Tuesday. And then I should be onto my regular every-monday update.**

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HOW TO RUN AWAY, TAKE A ROAD TRIP AND NOT GO CRAZY, a list by _Nina Parker_ and Charlie Duncan.

1. Bring plenty of snacks. (_You will get hungry_)

_2. Bring an interesting book on MP3._ (It breaks the monotony at the very least, although the literary selections of Nina Parker tend to be a bit more on the…comosedice, tedious side.)

3. Make sure you have a GPS. Failing that, at least have maps and directions. (_Getting lost in an unfamiliar town is never fun. And asking for directions is even less so.)_

_ 4. Make sure you don't drink too much liquid at any one given time and make sure you know when the bathroom stops are. (_Because, apparently, the driver is OCD about stopping for potty breaks.)

5. Do NOT distract the driver with any of the following—shiny things, fluffy things, gallon size containers of Gatorade, Lady A CDS, pictures of shiny things, pictures of fluffy things, sugary foods, coffee, oddly colored trees and/or yarn.

6. Turn off the trackers in your phones. _(or, better yet, don't bring the stupid things.)_

_ 7. Bring a mix CD to rock out to when you don't want to listen to any more audio books. _(or when they just get too plain boring and someone throws them out the window.)

_8. Bringing instant coffee is a good idea._

9. And so is bringing a portable coffee maker.

_10. Portable DVD players are a lot of fun—_

11. But Nina should never be let near one when she's driving.

_ 12. Barf buckets are always a good idea—_

13. But you should still pray that you won't have to use it.

14. Jars of honey are not allowed—

_ 15. And neither are fuzzy dice._

16. Monopoly is not allowed to be played.

_ 17. Scrabble, Twister, Sudoku, Backgammon and Mouse Trap are not recommended either._

_ 18. Songs are not permitted to be played on loop._

19. And no, it doesn't matter how much it relaxes you and makes driving safer, we are not listening to the hour long CD of waterfalls.

_20. Because Charlie will have to use the bathroom after five minutes, and if she isn't allowed to use one, she will either wet her pants or snap the CD in two. Number two would make Nina very sad._

_ 22. A kiddie pool, fishtank and/or large, open container of water is not recommended._

23. We are _not_ pulling over to go to an amusement park. Charlie is not amused when Nina suggests it.

_24. Nor is Nina amused when Charlie mixes up left and right. If Charlie does this again, she will be walking to Trenton, New Jersey._

_ 25. And no, it doesn't matter how bad you have to go, we are not stopping so you can use the toilet. You should've gone when we stopped ten minutes ago._

26. One more: Pillows are a good idea to bring. Blankets too.

_ 27. Charlie should not be allowed to drive, even though she will wind up driving, since Nina will inevitably get too tired to drive any more after three hours._

28. Twenty Questions is not a fun game to play after two hours.

_ 29. Neither is the Alphabet game, slugbug, The Equation Game, Guess this line!, Points Game and rock-paper-scissors was just a dumb game to begin with._

_ 30. Finally, stowaways are not welcomed, even if they happen to be an absolutely adorable two year old who happens to be Charlie's nephew._

_

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_R&R?

Go check out **Three is Better Than Four by Waffles of Doom!**

I'll forgive you if you don't review if you go read and review hers!


	20. Stowaway

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Haha, sorry for the long wait. This one here took me ages to get right because it's a pivotal chapter-the story really takes a bit of a turn here. Actually, I think we're about three chapters away from them end (that is, if I manage to get it down the way it's coming out in my mind before the mutant plot bunnies take over. But this is a bit more of a glimpse into Roxy and the next interlude is Roxy and PJ (yeah, that's what I said). We're almost there...and I'm still sorry for the long wait, btw.**

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"You're freaking kidding me." Nina groaned as Shane's adorable blonde head peeked up over the backseat. "Two questions. One, how the hell did that kid get in the car? And two, what the hell are we supposed to do with it?"

"Well, it happens to be Shane Duncan, the youngest member of the Duncan clan and probably the only child on earth capable of sneaking into a VW Bug, hiding amongst our suitcases and sleeping for four hours through three loud arguments, one near collision and the radio turned up on high, only to wake up when the car is in total silence. And as for what we're going to do with him…well, we can't just leave him by the side of the road, can we? We'll just have to take him with us."

Nina gaped at me. "You know, your ideas are usually pretty good. But this one ranks right up there with the toilet-paper-the-school idea and the steal-Krista's-sketchbook idea. In other words, no freaking way."

Shane cooed, and Nina bashed her head against the steering wheel.

"Hey, be careful. We don't wanna run off the road." Nina sighed, pulled the car into a rest stop and turned to face Shane.

"Hey, buddy-boy. How long you been back there?"

Shane just giggled and went "Miss Neeneen! Miss Charlay!" Nina introduced her head to the steering wheel again, and I held back a grin.

Shane was almost four, and I could see where he could be mistaken for younger. He looked like a male version of me when I was that young—blonde, blue eyed and absolutely irritating when he didn't get his way.

I heaved him up out of the back seat, and he cooed again, cuddling up in my lap.

"Charlie, we haven't just run away, we've kidnapped Shane! That's a federal offense, Char, and I'd really rather not go to prison for kidnapping."

"Relax, Neen. I'm related to him, and we're minors, so the worst they can do to us is probably a year in juvie, and maybe some community service. Besides, I dropped hints about going to the beach after school ended. I can pull those, and we'll probably only get grounded."

Nina rolled her eyes, and opened her car door.

"Whoa, where're you going?"

"We're at a rest stop. I'm gonna do what people usually do at rest stops—go to the bathroom, get something to eat and stretch a little. I'd recommend taking the three year old to the bathroom, especially since he looks like he's about to wet his pants."

I looked at Shane, and he was doing his wiggly potty dance. "Ooh, you look like you're right. C'mon, Shane, let's go to the bathroom." I opened my own car door, and Shane scrambled of my lap and started for the brick building.

Nina rolled her eyes and took off after him, and I caught up with both of them in the bathroom after swinging my computer bag over my shoulder. I wound up waiting for Shane in the bathroom because he got distracted by the automatic soap bubbly thing, and Nina eventually came back in and dragged both of us out. (okay, fine, I got distracted by the soap bubbly thing too. And I might have drawn a little flower on the mirror. But I wiped it off!)

It was summer-warm out, not the blistering heat or evening chill of summer, but the kind of summer warm you associate with lazy days and that warm sunny glow you usually see in TV ads.

There was a little playground, with a couple other kids, parents and picnic tables, and that's where we went, after getting three packs of M&Ms from a vending machine.

Shane started to play with some of the other kids, and Nina and I claimed a picnic table. I pulled out my tablet and opened a new Word Document, and scrawled, "To-Do List" across the top of it.

"So…what do we need to do?" I asked, and Nina shrugged, watching Shane play with a girl about his age.

"Goodwill or Walmart, obviously. We need a carseat and clothes for Shane." I scribbled that down, marking it as number one on a list.

"Number two, we need to find a place to spend the night. It's only four-thirty now, but it's gonna be getting late, and I don't think we can stay in a hostel, not with Shane. Maybe we can just sleep in the car, or something.

"Three, we need to find somewhere to eat or we need to get stuff at Walmart or Safeway or somewhere….four…we need to track down Roxy Baker, who, by the way, is probably using an alias since people probably wouldn't accept her if she didn't. Five…get a cheapo cell phone from Walmart and call the 'rents. They're probably freaking out. Of course, we trash the cell after using it." I kept scrawling, trying to keep up with Nina's fast-paced chatter. "They'll probably—Shane, don't eat the sand!" she called out suddenly, and my head snapped up reflexively to find that my nephew had gotten a shovel somewhere and was attempting to put it in his mouth. I shoved my tablet into Nina's lap and hurried over to Shane, where it took me a full two minutes to get it away from his mouth and three more to get it away from him in general.

Nina was, of course, laughing her head off as I very nearly got beaten in a competition of strength by a three year old boy.

If she wasn't my best friend, I probably would have strangled her for that.

When I got back to the table, she'd ripped open one of the packets of M&Ms and was sorting them into four piles. The blue and brown in one, the red and yellow in another, the green in one and the orange in one.

The green she put back into the bag, the blue and brown she pushed towards me and the red and yellow she practically inhaled. The orange were for Shane, I supposed, since she left them on the table.

I looked at the list. "If there's wi-fi here, I'll google the nearest walmart or goodwill or whatever." Nina nodded and got up to go play with Shane, who was now trying to climb on a swing.

I swiveled my tablet to reveal the keyboard (it basically made it look like a regular laptop) and tentatively checked the wireless internet status.

It was slow, but it was existent.

Apparently, I yelp when I find internet connection, because Nina and Shane came racing over, Nina looking for cops or familiar vehicles that could contain parental units or siblings (this is verbatim, I got it from her later) and Shane just freaked out. I got a full-on glare from Nina when I explained that it was only internet.

She and Shane promptly turned and returned to the swing.

I actually think Nina was having more fun on that strip of rubber connected to a metal bar by two chains than Shane was.

But I tracked down a Walmart and a campground that didn't mind if you parked or slept out in the open, as well as a local diner that got rave reviews.

We stayed at the rest stop for maybe an hour, and then we hit the road again.

.

The next hour included us reaching Trenton, Shane messing with my ipod, creating a rather bizarre playlist, Nina and I getting in a minor argument over how long we should stop for dinner, how much money should we spend on a carseat and if hot dogs were really made from pig intestines, hooves and snouts. Shane wisely stayed out of that one.

Somehow, we found a carseat at Goodwill for about 20 bucks, and of course, the first thing we did with it was buckle it into the backseat and make sure Shane could sit upright and look out the window and that we could reach him if anything happened.

Then, Nina dug through some boxes and came up with a couple of decent shirts and shorts for Shane, along with a small, battered pair of sneakers and an unopened pack of socks.

We paid and left, and by that time, it was about six-thirty, and all of our tummies were grumbling, and so we headed to the diner.

Both Nina and I got the blue plate special (which turned out to be turkey, mashed potatoes and a vegetable mix, which was actually peas, corn and carrots) while Shane gobbled down his mac&cheese with a little help from me, seeing as he kept spilling and eventually I just had to feed him or wind up with most of his meal on his lap.

Nina asked the waitress if Roxy Baker lived in town, and we managed to get a blank stare and then a kind of half-shocked gasp. "You must mean Roxanne Benjin! She lives down in the apartment building of Main and Valley. Apartment 2J. Four boys used to live there, but Roxanne moved in maybe four months ago? No, five, now. She and Kate live together…hey, Kate!"

A pretty redheaded woman about twenty years old with a wide smile and the strange pink uniform of the diner came over (it clashed pretty horribly—my opinion? Redheads should not wear pink). Our waitress went, "These girls are looking for Roxanne, and I figured you might know about them."

Nina extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Nina, and this is Charlie." Kate's eyes widened, and she turned to our waitress. "I'm gonna take my break now, Sarah. Can you take my tables? I'll owe you one, I swear." Sarah laughed and nodded.

"Ya'll catch up, m'kay? And yes, you owe me one, Kate." She then left, laughing about something to herself.

Kate looked a bit awkward and I invited her to sit down, which she did, gladly. "Thanks, girls. You said you were Nina and Charlie?"

"Mm-hm." I hummed, trying to maneuver the spoonful of mac&cheese into Shane's mouth.

"He's cute. Is he yours?" Kate asked, and Nina choked on her soda.

"Is Shane Charlie's? Oh, hell no. That's her nephew, Shane." I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Yup. He snuck out with us, so we're stuck with him for a couple days." Kate nodded, and laughed.

"Sorry for mixing that up. But you two really do look way similar." I nodded and took a bite of mashed potato. "Anyway, you guys were looking for Roxy?"

Nina nodded and launched into a quick explanation, ending with, "And so on my sixteenth birthday, I got this letter from Roxy, and it turns out that she's my real mom. And since Charlie wanted to know someone who knew her sister and I wanted to meet my mom, we decided to take a road trip, only we didn't know how to find her or contact her to tell her we were coming."

Kate listened patiently to the whole story, and then smiled. "Well, then, it's very nice to meet you, Nina. I'm your step-mom, then."

I think three jaws dropped at that moment—mine, Nina's and even Shane's, which was kind of weird because Shane was coloring an airplane on his little menu.

"My _step-mom_?" Nina gaped, and Kate grinned.

"Get that response a lot. Yeah, your step-mom. Roxy and I got married three months ago, and I moved in with her. We're both students at the college down the street." Kate pushed herself up from the table. "I gotta get back to work, but if you three need a place to stay tonight, you can come over to our place. My shift's over in like, ten minutes anyway, so if you can wait that long, I'll take you guys. And anyway, Rox'll be back home in an hour or so."

So we waited. We paid and when Kate got off, she headed for a silver Honda Accord, and Nina gestured to our Bug. It was quickly decided that we would follow her to the apartment complex.

We parked outside of a tall, grayish white building, and Kate entered the code that let us in. Inside it was white, decorated with white trim and, you guessed it, white tile.

"Yeah, it's like a hospital in here," Kate said when Shane commented on it. "Rox and I have been trying to convince the owners to let us paint it, like as a mural, but no such luck yet. We haven't given them the designs yet, so they might change their minds."

Out of the diner, Kate was a lot bubblier and excited. Nina was quiet, trying to take it all in, like the fact that she had a stepmom, not a stepdad, and the fact that her stepmom seemed to be in her early twenties while her mom was about thirty.

We climbed up one flight of stairs to the second floor and got all the way down to Apartment 2J, where Kate unlocked the door. The apartment was brightly decorated with near-neon colors and various wall murals of various, brightly colored subjects. The furniture looked like a rainbow had thrown up, but the whole place was somewhat comforting, all the colors meshing to create a childlike theme that was oddly soothing.

A halfway-familiar voice called out, "Katie? That you?"

"Yeah, hon, it's me. I met some interesting girls at the diner today, you might wanna meet 'em."

"'Course, Kate." A woman with curly brown hair and lively brown eyes came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. Of course, when she saw Nina, the towel dropped.

"Good God in heaven, it really is you," she murmured, and I only caught this because I was standing closest to her out of everyone. "PJ was right."

"PJ was right about what?" Nina asked suspiciously.

"Today, I got a really weird phone call from someone I haven't heard from in ages and ages. And what he said was literally a twenty-second message that went, and I quote, "My baby sis, son and baby sis's best friend went missing. I think they're headed your way, so heads up. BTW, congrats on your marriage, wish you luck, PJ. Call me if they get there. Thanks, PJ."

There was silence for all of ten seconds before all three of us (minus Shane) started talking.

"Wait, you were—"

"PJ knew?"

"—and you didn't warn me?"

"—all my fault—"

"—no help at all—"

"—kidding me?"

"—gonna kill him—"

"—tell Krista and Tris—"

"You knew about—"

"—freaking kidding me, right?"

Roxy just stared at us, gaping slightly, before kneeling and scooping up Shane, balancing him on her hip. "This little fella must be Shane. PJ rambled on and on about him for weeks when he was born. Still amazed he hadn't sent pictures, by the way."

Silence fell between me and Nina, but Kate kept going.

"You couldn't have warned me that my stepdaughter that I've been dying to meet for the past year or so was coming to visit? Dear Lordy, Rox, you better be freaking kidding, because otherwise, you are getting the couch for the next month, do you hear me?" Kate's face just kept getting redder and redder, and eventually, she wound down.

"I didn't know for sure, and PJ said it was only suspicion. Besides, how could you prep for it?" Roxy asked, and Kate opened her mouth to reply. "No, that was rhetorical. Besides, they're here now. Can't do much about it."

Roxy gestured to the kitchen with the arm not holding Shane.

"Why don't we go in the kitchen and talk this out?"

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**R&R?**


	21. Interlude 10

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Interlude, ETC. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up soon, so keep an eye out. **

**By the way, "you're stupid," your insults don't bother me. My mother happens to be adopted and one of my best friends is black. The reason Charlie labelled the woman in the first chapter as black is because _she had no idea who Ivy was_. Threatening me to remove my story isn't going to work on me-it takes a lot more than a coward who won't even log in to make me back down, and when you start insulting my friends and my family, that is crossing a line, and I will not tolerate it. I removed your comments, and will remove any others you post. I would like to politely remind you that if you have nothing nice or at least neutral to say, don't say anything at all. I am not forcing you to read this story, and neither is anyone else. There is no need to be rude when something bothers you-and I'm not a racist bitch, thank you very much. I am a bitch, but only when people piss me off. And your review didn't even manage to do that.**

**Besides, I only listen to insults from people who have intellect high enough to spell, punctuate and captialize correctly. You didn't even manage to do that. The reason I asked for reviews is because I need feedback, and I'm not getting quite enough feedback to know if the characters are behaving reasonably, or if some of this stuff is too out there. At that point, I didn't quite know what I was doing with the story, and I needed feedback on where to go.**

**Come to think of it, I still need that for when I go back and edit.**

**Sorry to everyone who had to read that, but since they were an anonymous reviewer, this is the only way I can reply to them. I apologize to everyone not involved.**

**Second A/N: Just realized I put up the wrong interlude. It's fixed now-sorry for everyone who read Interlude 9 again.**

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Dear Roxy,

How you doing, Rox? Haven't heard from you in ages and ages—you didn't lose your privileges, did you?

Nah, I bet you didn't. You're probably debating Jennette McCurdy versus Miranda Cosgrove with the prison guards, or maybe you're improving their security system, like I know you would.

You're getting released in a month or two, I think, right?

But anyway, remember what I was telling you, about Charlie and her best friends?

Well, there's one of them, I think I mentioned her, Nina, and she looks a lot like you. The reason I didn't mention this earlier was because I hadn't really seen her since she was eleven or twelve, especially since I've been busy at the hospital and Charlie very rarely brings her friends over for family dinners—Mom put a stop to that ages ago, especially since they started a whole food fight mess and Mom was pretty ticked off.

But Nina…I picked them up from school as a favor to Charlie, and Nina looks almost exactly like you did—so I did some background research (AKA interrogating Charlie and Gabe) and it turns out that Nina was adopted. I'm enclosing a picture of the four of them—the boy is Tris, the girl in yellow is Charlie, the one wearing the brightly colored outfit is Krista (Nina's adopted sister) and the girl in the black drama club T-shirt is Nina. They're all going into high school next month.

And then the whole name thing—Nina is short for Janine (I asked her, and that's what she said) and your daughter was Nina-short-for-Janine as well. On top of that, she was wearing a battered silver locket that just happened to look a lot like yours. She's about the right age as well—fourteen, almost fifteen.

On the flip side, her eyes were a completely different color and her hair is curly, not straight. She's shorter than you were, and she's interested in practically none of the same things. She's an energy ball, which is kind of scary, but still cool. You were more laid-back, if I remember correctly.

It's really weird—you'd think I'd have noticed this before, but I didn't, so here it is now.

Anyway, Shane's turning two in a week (he really looks just like a male version of Charlie when she was his age).

Gabe, Mom and Dad all say hi. Charlie still doesn't know about you or Teddy yet, but we're telling her the next time the Anniversary comes around, but then again, we've been saying that for the past five years and we still haven't gotten anywhere. We'll do it before she turns eighteen, though. I swear it.

I think you and Charlie would get along pretty well—Charlie's so much like Teddy in so many ways.

Anyway, I've gotta go (Claudia will kill me if I keep hogging the computer any longer), so…

PJ

_Dear PJ,_

_ You're right, she does look a lot like I used to. I compared pictures, and I think she is my daughter._

_ Really? You're actually going to tell her? Good luck with that—knowing you, you'll chicken out and the poor girl will find out by herself._

_ I'm being released in a month—the jails are overcrowded and they've decided that since I've been the epitome of good behavior, I can be released safely into the public. I'll have to do community service and go to counseling and check in with a parole officer, etc, but I'm heading to Trenton, NJ to attend college. I think I'd like to study business, maybe minor in art or music._

_ When I get out, you, Claudia and I are all meeting up for coffee—bring Gabe, too. I'm still really sorry for everything I've done, and I'm extremely grateful that you've all chosen to forgive me._

_ But why you all keep writing to me is beyond my comprehension—it doesn't exactly make sense for you to want to keep in contact with the woman who killed your baby sister. Well, Gabe's older sister, but I'm writing to you._

_ Although…if you're talking to Pete, I'm going to seriously question your sanity._

_ See you in two months?_

_ Roxy_

R&R?

Go check out **Three is Better Than Four by Waffles of Doom!**

I'll forgive you if you don't review if you go read and review hers!


	22. Roxy and Nina and Teddy and Kate and

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: Ah, I love this chapter. It explains a lot, I hope, and it came surprisingly easy. And that means that it's going somewhere. Hopefully. We've heard Charlie's speculation on this-it's time for Roxy to explain.

I'm also mourning the loss of Surfandsnowrider, a reviewer who's been with me since Max, Dead or Alive? because of Kate and Roxy. I won't take it down, though, and I stick by my choice. But I miss her.

Three or four chapters left, guys. We're getting there.

Again, please review!

* * *

The kitchen was quiet for a while as everyone settled down, the only sounds the quiet hum of the refrigerator and the swish of the dishwasher. Like the rest of the apartment, the kitchen was done in flamboyant colors, and this is probably the first (and probably not the last) time I will say that bright color, while very cheerful, does hurt the eyes. A lot.

Roxy was the first to speak. "I know it's kind of bizarre, for you to come over and find that I'm married to Kate, but…well, a lot's happened in the past twelve years, and I will share all of it with you, if you want."

Nina nodded. "I'd like that."

Roxy took a deep breath. "This could take a while. Forgive me if it's a long speech, there's a lot to tell, and I don't want to leave anything out."

We all nodded, and Kate got up and pulled four waterbottles from the fridge as Roxy poured a bowl of cheerios and set them in front of Shane.

"Alright." Roxy closed her eyes and exhaled sharply.

"I was never a good kid. I guess that's where we need to begin—with background. I was a horrible kid—I broke stuff, tortured small animals…stereotypical bully, now that I think of it. In fourth grade, I met this guy named Peter White. Pete—and he was pretty much my best friend from there on out. We were a completely destructive duo, the kind that kids feared. In fifth grade, he introduced me to alcohol and drugs, and I was hooked. I think I started dating Pete sometime in sixth, but I'm not totally sure—the memories I have from that time period were pretty horrible.

"I stayed that way for three or four years, at least, until a lot changed. I met PJ, Teddy and Ivy, and I have to say, it was because of them I even had a conscience, for a while there. I was that far gone.

"I met them back in eighth grade…Teddy and Ivy were a grade below me, in seventh. I was with them because they were a year ahead in math, and so we sat together at lunch and all that. I had a crush on PJ, since he was in half of my classes, but mostly I hung out with my boyfriend/best friend, Pete. Teddy and Ivy and I were never very close—more like we saw each other in the halls, ate lunch together occasionally, maybe ran into each other at the mall and sometimes texted each other to ask for homework assignments.

"I got pregnant when I was sixteen, a huge mistake on my part. Well, yes and no. I made a mistake going to that party—made a mistake letting myself get drugged. I thought I would have been safe—but I wasn't. I was stupid, and was raped and got pregnant. But Nina, although originally I did think she was a mistake, she's not. I honestly think that without Nina, I would have burned down the entire town and had exactly no regrets. Nina changed a lot of that."

Nina looked down, and I gave her a side hug, trying to comfort her.

"I started seeing Teddy and Charlie a lot more after Nina was born, since we were the only two kids in our entire high school with kids or siblings that young, and that's when I met PJ. I really liked PJ, and he liked being around me and didn't mind that I had a baby, because, after all, he had a baby sister and was used to it. And Pete was never around—later, I found out he was avoiding me because he was Nina's father and didn't want me to know he'd raped me at a party. I actually dropped back a year—I went from being a young senior to being an old junior after Nina was born because I was focused on Nina and not school. I started being around Teddy more as a result of that as well. So Pete and PJ graduated, and I retook my senior year, with Teddy and Ivy.

"When Nina was about a year and a half—Charlie, you were only a month younger—I fell back in with Pete, and Nina kind of fell to the wayside. PJ, Teddy and my parents helped pick up the slack I left. I was seventeen and Teddy was seven months behind me, only sixteen.

"I started doing drugs again, cutting myself—I honestly didn't care if I died or not. Months passed, and in February, Teddy and Ivy staged an intervention. They hauled me out of the parties and the drugs, and they even got me away from Pete for a while.

"But a week away from the end of school, Pete showed up at my window and convinced me it would be fun to go party for a while. It was four in the afternoon, but I agreed for old time's sake. I got drunk by maybe six or seven, and Pete decided it would be fun to set a fire in the science lab. He even had the rags and the gasoline ready to go—and I was drunk by then, so it seemed like a good idea. Later, I realized he'd been planning this for weeks, and wasn't drunk at all—he'd only gotten me drunk.

"He was planning to set me up, as revenge for turning him in for the drugs. How he got the gasoline is beyond me. But we got to the school, and put the rags and the gas in a trashcan, which I knocked over. He handed me a packet of matches, and I got one out and lit. It singed my fingers, and I snapped out of it, just a bit.

"I almost stopped then—but Pete reassured me that it was only going to be a harmless fire…I didn't know he'd punctured the gasoline container and left a trail all over the school. So I lit the match…and dropped it onto the pile of rags. The…the fire spread quickly…and the next thing I knew, screams were echoing in my ears as Pete and I ran." Roxy's voice broke, and it was too much.

I couldn't take it, and so I just got up and walked out of the kitchen, Shane wrapped tightly in my arms.

.

I wound up sitting on the small balcony their apartment had while Nina, Roxy and Kate discussed a lot of things. I think I sat there for an hour or two, watching the stars and cradling a lightly snoring Shane.

But when my watch beeped ten PM, the glass door slid open, and the one person I least expected stepped out and sat next to me.

"Can I hold him?" Roxy asked quietly, and I gently shifted my sleeping nephew over to Roxy's lap. It was silent for a few moments as Shane settled, and then silent a while longer as neither of us found something to say. "I remember when you were this small. Remember when Nina was this small. You two were pretty close as kids, and I have to admit, I was surprised to find out that you were together again in sixth grade." I didn't reply, and Roxy sighed. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You're not what I expected." I said bluntly, and Roxy's head tipped slightly to the side.

"Whaddaya mean?" Roxy asked. "I'm just another person."

"You just seem so…happy for someone who spent eleven years in prison."

"I'm not a bad person, Charlie. I've messed up, but so has everyone else. My mess up was just bigger than others. I've been forgiven, and I can never make up that debt. I owe a lot to your family, and a lot to the world in general. But I also realize that life is meant to be lived—Teddy used to tell me that tomorrow is a mystery, yesterday is history but that today was a gift and that was why it was called the present. I've been given a second chance, and I'm going to make the most of it. And Kate's helped, a lot."

"That's the other thing. Kate."

"You're wondering why I married her?"

"Well, yeah." My voice was sharper than I intended, and Shane stirred restlessly. I think I woke him, and that's not really a good thing.

"Nina said the same thing." Roxy murmured quietly, and I knew she'd seen Shane squirm. We needed to not wake him up—he needed his sleep. "Why would I, a woman with a daughter and a history of dating several very cute guys marry a woman six years younger than me? Answer is, I don't really know."

"You don't…know?" I asked softly, and Roxy shook her head no.

"No idea at all. Only that when she talks, I want to pay attention and that I love everything she does." I looked up at her face, and you could see the love and adoration shining from her eyes. "Kate doesn't judge. She's amazing, and I've got no idea why she fell in love with _me_ and not some normal guy, like she deserves." I tipped my head slightly to the side, considering.

"And the fact of the matter is, I'm not lesbian, or gay, or anything. I'm like, Kate-sexual. Kissing other girls would make me sick, but kissing Kate feels right. I dunno how to explain it—I just know I wouldn't have it any other way. Kissing another girl disgusts me, but Kate's just…right for me. I'm like, Kate-sexual. We both discuss hot guys in movies, and we debate Johnny Depp versus Orlando Bloom. We discuss hot guys we meet in class and at work, and we both perv on guy's butts. We're like best friends, it's just like, another level." Roxy explained, and it took me a moment to comprehend what she said.

"So you never like, wanted to date another guy?" I had to ask. It was probably tactless and rude, but still.

She laughed. "Wanna know a secret? After I gave birth to Nina, Teddy, Ivy and I both swore off guys. It didn't last long—I wound back up in a halfway relationship with the guy who got me pregnant and started a serious relationship with PJ after I broke up with Pete, and then Teddy went fell in love with Spencer, and Ivy decided to give Emmett another try. Wound up working I think because Ivy wrote me and said that she and Emmett were married and having their second child."

"Spencer like the Spencer who gave her her first kiss?" I asked, and Roxy looked started for a moment before laughing, just a bit.

"You've been watching the diaries. I thought PJ said your Mom snapped the disks?"

"Apparently, there was more than one set, because I found a box in the attic a month or two ago." Roxy nodded.

"That sounds like the Teddy I knew. Always losing things and making backup copies." I cracked a grin at that, despite my resolution not to. "Teddy was an amazing girl, and she would've grown into an amazing woman. I made a stupid mistake, and it destroyed someone who would have been very influential in the world."

"Whaddaya mean?" My voice felt strained, and Roxy closed her eyes.

"Teddy would have gone to the College of William and Mary on scholarship. She wanted to be a cancer researcher—for several personal reasons. She was so determined, I know she would have been the one to save the world. End cancer." A tear rolled down Roxy's cheek. "And it's all my fault that it never came to be. All my fault that she'll never smile again."

I carefully reached out and took Shane from her as she started to shake. She buried her face in her hands. "I still hear the screams, Charlie. I still remember seeing her burned body." She drew in a deep, shuddering breath. "I hear the screams and smell the smoke every night. I live with the guilt every day, Charlie, and it never, ever goes away."

I didn't know what to say, and I had no idea how to console a sobbing woman. I may be a girl, but that doesn't mean I know how to deal with this.

I wound up patting her shoulder and balancing Shane.

We probably sat there for a good twenty minutes, Roxy crying and me attempting to comfort her. Eventually, her tears slowed and she looked up with reddened eyes.

"I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you. I can't tell Kate, and Nina…Nina isn't ready for this. You weren't either, but it just…burst out, and…oh, God, I'm so sorry, Charlie."

"It's alright. You needed to let it out—and keeping it pent up isn't worth it. Scream into a pillow if you have to, but don't keep it pent up. We learned that with Mom."

Roxy looked worried. "She's not still suicidal, is she? Oh, God, that's all my fault too."

"Nono, no no, no. It was actually already there, from postpartum. The Teddy thing just prolonged it." Roxy's eyes widened.

"And she's not freaking about you and Nina vanishing?"

I shrugged. "I actually have no idea, especially since we both forgot our phones."

The balcony fell into silence again, and Shane began to snore. Not the cutesy baby snores you'd expect from someone who barely weighed thirty pounds, but a huge, honking truck driver snore.

"We'd better get him inside before he wakes the Camerons next door." Roxy told me, winking, and I slid open the glass door.

Laughter bubbled from the kitchen, and I recognized Nina's carefree laughter—the laughter I hadn't heard for nearly a year now. The laughter I hadn't expected after the whole serious tone of the evening. But I guessed Roxy and Kate and Nina had talked it out and everything was better between them.

Note to self: Ask Nina what went down after I left.

"No, you're not getting it—the whole reason the Twilight saga was so popular was because it was a romance that wouldn't die, and it was only made more popular by the perfect chemistry between the characters." Nina explained, and Kate laughed.

"Take it from someone who was actually alive during the Twilight mania, there is nothing romantic about a stalker who abuses a teenage girl."

"I wasn't referring to Edward's admittedly stalkerish capabilities, I was referring to the chemistry between Bella and Jacob. It was cute. And I'm only Team Edward because Jacob and Leah are so going to hook up in the future, Nessie or no." Nina insisted, and Kate looked horrified.

"That would totally destroy the imprint principle! No, Twilight is a brilliant work, despite the anti-feminism vibes emanating off of it, and it'll endure as long as, if not longer than, Romeo and Juliet."

"No, it won't! Didn't people say that about Gone With the Wind, yet no one reads that? They all like, go for the movie instead." Nina pointed out, and Kate's horrified look intensified.

"Ever noticed how all the great romances are completely dysfunctional? I mean, there's Romeo and Juliet, and they're only like fourteen and they commit suicide, and Gone With The Wind, Scarlett's in love with Ashley but Ashley marries her cousin and then Rhett's in love with Scarlett and she winds up marrying this random dude to prove a point and gets pregnant and the dude dies, and then marries her sister's fiancée for his money but then _that dude_ dies, and Scarlett and _Rhett_ marry, but then just as she realizes she's in love with Rhett, he isn't in love with her anymore, and then in Twilight, Bella's a wimp, Edward's a stalker, they wind up marrying, having an impossible baby and then living forever. And then there's The Notebook and A Walk To Remember, and the Last Song, and all the books by Nicolas Sparks, and…it's like, seriously, what's up with these dysfunctional romances? Why isn't Sara Dessen as famous? Her romances are crazy realistic and wonderful. And with all the classics, it's like they want women to believe that they need to screw up their love lives, be dependent on a guy and have kids at an early age, even at the cost of death." Kate finished, breathing heavily and turning a bright red. It was even more impressive that she didn't even take a breath between beginning her rant and ending it.

But anyway, I think there were three jaws on the floor at the end of Kate's rant before Roxy spoke. "You have just seen the reason why Kate is an English literature major."

"I'm not _that_ bad." Kate pouted, and laughter filled the kitchen again.

"No, you are, Katie-boo." Roxy smirked at the younger woman, and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Yuk it up, Rox, we both know that you agree with me." Roxy crossed the room and hugged Kate, kissing the top of her head.

"That I do, Kate."

Then something completely unexpected happened.

Wanna guess what happened?

No, seriously, guess.

You're reading _my_ private journal, you can at least guess what happened.

Okay, fine, I cave. The doorbell rang.

At 10:47 at night.

And guess who was behind it?

My older brothers, Gabe and PJ. Neither of whom looked very happy.

Can we say, "Uh-oh?"

* * *

**R&R? Was Roxy's POV alright?**


	23. Interlude 11

**Title: Hang in There, Baby**

**Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.**

**A/N: Interlude, ETC. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up soon, so keep an eye out. Series of texts between Roxy, Gabe and PJ. Hope you like!**

**

* * *

**

From: PJ

Hey, are Nina, Charlie and Shane there?

To: PJ

From: Roxy

No…but Kate called and said there were two girls and a toddler at the diner who were looking for me. It's probably not, but it might be them.

To: PJ

From: Gabe

Has R txted u bak yet?

To: Gabe

From: PJ

Keep your pants on, she just said maybe it was them. And why are you texting me? I'm right next to you, G.

To: PJ

From: Roxy

They're here.

To: PJ, Gabe

From: Roxy

You guys are still in Concord, right? You're not planning some big brother intervention, are you?

To: Roxy

From: PJ

I'm not planning on it, but Gabe's driving, and I think he's planning on yelling at Charlie for scaring us like that.

To: Roxy

From: Gabe

Nooo, y wld u thnk dat?

To: Gabe

From: Roxy

PJ just told me you were driving. Give your phone to PJ. Now. If you two crash on your way down here, I'm resurrecting both of you and murdering you for texting while driving and PJ for letting you drive.

To: Roxy

From: PJ

Why did Gabe just turn white and give me his cell?

To: PJ

From: Roxy

Crap. I jokingly threatened murder if he texted while driving.

To: Roxy

From: PJ

You can't do that, not with your record.

To: PJ

From: Roxy

I know, but I keep forgetting. How far away are you? Tell him I'm sorry.

To: Roxy

From: PJ

Gabe accepts your apology. It's six now, we should be there in four hours, so about tennish?

To: PJ

From: Roxy

Yeah. The girls and I are talking, though. So take your time.

To: Roxy

From: PJ

Well, we would if I hadn't been an idiot and let Gabe drive. I'll try to stall him, though.

To: PJ

From: Roxy

Good Luck with that.

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**R&R?**


	24. Big Brothers

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N: Wow, the final chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get here-school started and inspiration just wasn't coming. Then it hit me, all in one, today in Spanish, so I think I failed a quiz to get this one done. I hope you appreciate it, it took me a while to get there.

The epilouge and thanks will immediately follow, so...:D

Thanks for sticking with me,

Sylver

* * *

In all honesty, I was terrified to see my big brothers there.

And Gabe was really throwing off a way overprotective big brother vibe and I actually could see, for once, where people got the overall-scary biker impression.

PJ looked just as pissed, but he, at least, I knew could control his temper. Gabe, I wasn't so sure about.

"Charlotte Savannah Duncan, just _what_ were you thinking?" Gabe roared, and I flinched. "You weren't thinking, that's what."

Roxy patted his shoulder and went, "Gabriel, the neighbors are asleep. Inside voice, please."

Gabe nodded and then returned to his tirade, albeit at an inside voice volume. "Do you have any idea how worried Mom and Dad are? _Pretty damn worried_."

I took a shaky step back and Nina put her hand on my shoulder.

"Gabe, take a deep breath or four." PJ told him, and met my eyes. "Charlie, don't ever do that ever, ever again, you hear me?" I nodded quickly, and a half-smile appeared on his face before it vanished just as quickly. "Claudia was worried sick about Shane, who I see, is perfectly safe with you two, and I really would appreciate you not sending my wife into panic mode. Makes life much easier for me, you see."

Gabe still looked mad, and PJ looked a bit pissed, and I don't know what made me do it, but I blurted out, "I know about Teddy."

PJ and Gabe's eyes widened, and Roxy nodded in confirmation. Nina's fingers dug into my shoulder, and I have no idea what Kate and Shane were doing.

"Then I guess we've all got a lot of explaining to do, don't we?" PJ said quietly, and I nodded once more.

.

"We only did it to protect you," Mom told me later over the speaker phone. "We didn't want you to have to grow up remembering her because we thought it would be too much for a three year old to handle."

"We were going to tell you before the next anniversary—that's why Mom was cleaning the attic, to find the photos and videos—but then you started acting weirdly. We weren't sure if you knew or not, and we were trying to figure out how to bring it up." PJ added.

"But then there was the Nina drama, and we figured it was just a side effect of that." Gabe spoke up for the first time, his temper actually in check.

"And when we were going to talk to you about it, we found you missing." Dad said, from the other end of the phone. "And with Shane and Nina missing as well, we started to panic, thinking you knew and might be out for revenge."

There was a brief silence before Nina interrupted it.

"Why?"

Gabe and PJ both looked sheepish. "We panicked, okay? We had no idea how you would react and we didn't even know if you knew or not. So we panicked."

"Yeah, well, so did we." Nina interjected and yawned. "_Why_ are we still up? It's three in the morning and I—" here she yawned widely. "I have been up since six and coffee isn't cutting it anymore."

I nodded in agreement. "I'm about ready to crash myself. Kate's already asleep, and Shane's snores are just making me more tired."

Gabe laughed dryly. "You can sleep in the car on the way back, both of you. I'll drive your car, Nina."

Both of us shot up from our slumped positions. "No!" we yelped in unison.

Nina started off on a ramble about everything and I tried to explain it all myself.

Finally, Roxy hushed us both. "Gabe, PJ, Nina wants to stay here. I see no reason why she can't at least stay the summer. Kate's been dying to get to know Nina anyway. We'd be glad to have her."

PJ pinched the bridge of his nose. "Charlie, I swear, if Gabe suffers an aneurysm from you and your friends, I am listing you as the cause of death." He sighed. "Mom, ideas?"

Mom replied quickly. "I'll call Rachel in the morning and see if she agrees. In the meantime, everyone, get some sleep. As a nurse, I can't recommend that you all drive after being up fairly early and staying up very late. Driving after eighteen hours of staying awake is like driving drunk. And I can't condone that, from any of _you_."

We all gave general agreements and settled in semi-comfortable positions to wait until later that morning.

.

Eight hours later, I was curled up in the backseat of PJ's SUV, Shane in the carseat next to me.

PJ was driving, but Gabe was staying in Trenton, for a while at least, to sort things out with Nina and Roxy. I have no idea why Gabe was picked, but Roxy and PJ had both mumbled something about working with exes and then PJ had hurried me and Shane out the door.

It was silent for maybe thirty miles, and I was three-quarters asleep when PJ spoke.

"You scared everyone, you know that, right?" I didn't answer, thinking I was dreaming. "But you did Teddy proud, I know that much. She liked rushing into things too—and she always gave her whole heart to it. Just like you, Charlie."

I managed a "hmm" in reply, and PJ laughed in the carefree way I'd come to associate with the Videos.

"Good Luck, Charlie. Not that you need it."

With those last words ringing in my ears, I fell asleep.

* * *

R&R? Final comments?


	25. Epilogue

Title: Hang in There, Baby

Summary: It's 14 years later, and Charlie is nearly 16 years old. When she stumbles upon a box in the attic of videos from a girl claiming to be her big sister, Charlie wants to get to the bottom of it. Who is this mysterious Teddy, and why does no one want to tell her about Teddy?

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, attempted suicide (non explicit), mild cussing in strong situations, paranoia.

A/N:The final-final, epilogue. This was probably the easiest thing I've had to write for this entire story...I can't believe it's over. Thanks at the very end.

.

My name's Charlotte, Charlotte Duncan. But you can call me Charlie. I've always been called Charlie, and so being called Charlotte just isn't the same. I'm Charlie and it's just stuck—but I never said I didn't like it.

I'm eighteen, turning nineteen in two months, and my older brothers, PJ and Gabe never let me forget that I'm that much younger than them.

See, while my family is small—only six people—the age differences between all of us are pretty big. Mom and Dad are in their late fifties, PJ's sixteen years older than me, at thirty-four and Gabe's twenty-eight.

My family lives in a small house in Denver, Colorado, but it's only Mom and Dad at home right now. I'm attending college right now—I got accepted into The College of William and Mary on scholarship, just like my big sister.

PJ lives in Concord, Massachusetts, with my sister-in-law, Claudia and my two adorable nephews, Shane and Casey. They come to visit us whenever they can, but Concord is where they call home. For a while, the rest of us did too, but when I was sixteen, we packed up and moved to Denver. He's a doctor, and we couldn't be prouder of him. Claudia is a doctor as well, but she's only part-time, seeing as how she wants to be the best mother possible to Shane and Casey. She's a big part of the family, and we're glad that PJ found her.

Gabe lives in Trenton, New Jersey. He's going to get married this fall, to a woman who's going to fit right in with our crazy family. He helps Dad run the family business, and he and his fiancée, Noelle, are already planning on adopting several kids, since Noelle can't have children.

Naturally, I'm closer to Gabe, since our ages are closer, but PJ means a lot to me as well. I pretty much grew up with PJ out of the house, so he's more like my uncle than my brother, but he's still family—close family.

My whole family is pretty protective of me, and I totally understand that, seeing as my older sister, Teddy, died in a fire. That, and I'm the baby by about, oh, ten years.

But I love my family, and I'll never, ever forget them.

Mom was sad and depressed for a while—from when I was three to when I was fifteen—and she's seriously religious, going to church two or three times a week. She takes some serious anti-depressants, but she's also a totally awesome mom. She makes the world's BEST brownies, can do anything in photoshop, is an awesome photographer and texts as easily as I do. She works in the family petshop with Dad, and she loves it.

Speaking of Dad, he runs a petshop. Or rather, three petshops—one here in Denver, one in Trenton and one in Concord. The three places that shaped our lives. He used to be an exterminator, but when Teddy died, he decided that he'd seen enough death and was ready to start giving life. Hence, the petshops. The store took off and he opened a second store, and when Gabe showed an interest in business, he let Gabe open and manage one, so now there's a mini-chain cross-country.

My house is filled with pictures—there's barely an inch of wall that doesn't have a frame or picture nailed to it. My room is covered in candid snapshots and polaroids pushpinned to the wall and the rest of the house has memories from everything we've ever done as a family—every accomplishment, milestone and memory is there.

There are, of course, plenty of diaper pictures, but you know what? I don't mind people seeing them. If they can't take me as a kid, they haven't earned the right to know me now.

So anyway, I'm living here in Denver with my family, and today is March 5th. To most people, this wouldn't be a strange day—it would be totally normal, except maybe a birthday or something to some families. Not in my house. Not with my family.

Today, we dress in bright colors and go to the cemetery. We sit on the grass next to Teddy's tombstone and tell her about the year. We share memories and laugh and cry and leave little letters in a basket along with a dozen fresh roses.

Today, people who Teddy knew and loved and people who had their lives changed by Teddy come and share a memory about Teddy. This year, there's ten people coming—me, Mom, Dad, Gabe and PJ (Claudia, Casey and Shane are visiting but not spending the day at the cemetery) make up the first five—Nina and Roxy make seven, and then three more are coming. Those three are people important to our family and important to Teddy. Their names are Ivy and Emmett Heglin-Wentz and Spencer Welsh.

This is the third year we've all been there, because over the past fifteen years, everyone's been scattered across the US—we Duncans in Concord, Roxy in Trenton and the Heglin-Wentzes lived here. I'm not exactly sure where Spencer Welsh was or where he's come from, and all I know is that he was Teddy's ex-boyfriend—and we only got in contact with everyone when I was sixteen

We'll all hang out at the cemetery and then come over to our house, where we'll watch all of Teddy's old videos (Mom, Dad, Gabe and Noelle will inevitably grab the couch while Mr. and Mrs. Heglin-Wentz will take the loveseat. Nina and I will sprawl out on the carpet with the little kids and Claudia, while PJ will be fiddling with the DVD player the whole time. Spencer Welsh will take an armchair and Roxy will perch on a hassack with Kate) and everyone will recount just how every situation happened and how it all turned out—basically it'll be a glorified storytime and a trip down memory lane for everyone older than twenty-five.

We'll all nibble on Mom's brownies, my peanut-butter cookies and carrot sticks with ranch dressing (although those will remain mostly untouched) and we'll all agree to meet up next year if nothing stands in our way.

But nothing will, we've done this and variations of this every year for the past three years. People say they won't make it, and they will.

They always do.

But then in the next week, everything will go back to normal—PJ, Claudia, Shane and Casey will be back in Concord before the week is out, Spencer will have faded by the day after and the Heglin-Wentzes will have returned to their home. Roxy, Kate, Gabe and Noelle will go back to Trenton and back to their ordinary lives, and Nina and I will go back to college and our fabulous boyfriends.

Nina's my best friend in the world. She's my roommate at college, and although she's had a history of dating bad guys, I really think she's found a keeper. Nina's a high-energy, high-maintenance girl, but the guys she's found (a sweetheart named Christian) can keep her grounded and loves her a lot. I'm crazy protective of her, though, and he knows it. We're as close as sisters, Nina and I, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

We grew up in Concord together, but our junior year of high school, we split up—I moved to Denver, and Nina moved to Trenton, New Jersey with her mother and step-mom. We kept in touch via webcam and visits as often as we could. But as soon as it was possible (meaning the second we were old enough to attend college), we dormed together and were right back to our best-friend ways. We're going into our second year of college now, and I'm proud to say that we are honor-roll students (no thanks to our respective boyfriends).

One word for Nina? That's impossible. She's got a wonderful personality, and there's no one word in the entire world that can describe her in all her insane awesomeness. Well, there is one. Nina.

Christian is her boyfriend, a dramatic sweetheart who couldn't hurt a fly and loves Nina with his entire heart. They've got the world in common, loving the same things and hanging out with the same friends.

My boyfriend is James, a communications major. I'm a communications minor, English major, and we've got a few classes together. We're a lot different, but I love him.

As for me…well, there's quite a lot to say. I'm Charlie Duncan, five seven, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes, contacts and a retainer, legally blind and moderately popular but somewhat a dorky nerd. I've got a past that sounds like it's from a soap opera but a future that's anything but. I'm happy and have a family who doesn't hide anything and a best friend I would give the world for and a boyfriend who I'll cry over when we break up and then forget all about but am proud to love now because he makes me _happy_. But my family and friends are what's important now.

But whatever. I'm just Charlie—Charlotte— Duncan.

This is my life. I think I like where it's taken me.

.

Thanks to my three hundred-plus reviewers, and I'm sorry it took so long to get this to where it is now.

Love to you all!

And until next time,

Sylver


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